Dark and Light
by Mozilla Fennekin
Summary: "I didn't really plan on traveling without Kit or running into a team of criminals, but I suppose I can't say I was expecting this journey to be 100% perfect. That's just how the world works. But then again, what do I know? I've hardly even seen the world." My own little Pokemon game thing. OC SUBMISSIONS ARE OPEN!
1. Sunrise

_The idea is simple: my own version of a Pokémon game. Also, I did NOT have Black and White when I planned this story. To be exact, I planned it before it came out in America and got the game around April when I started writing. Originally, I had no BW anything in there, but now with X&Y announced, I don't want a story leaving 2 generations out, that's just silly. So I took the extra time to implement the 5__th__-gen Pokémon. However, no story or anything from BW exists. This is basically replacing those games._

_Oh, and just a spoiler alert, the kid can talk to Pokémon. I dunno, I felt like I should put that there 'cuz the last time I uploaded this, someone stopped reading after finding that out. Was kinda rude x_x, but it's really just a gimmick to make human-Pokémon interaction easier…_

_I will soon have a link to my custom Falloh region in my profile. I have a picture of it, but no scans, so the current is bad and doesn't show much detail._

_DIS IS DE DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN STUFF YAY. Falloh and the three starter Pokémon are mine, mine I tell you! And I suppose the characters. Otherwise, 'dat Masuda guy is in charge._

Pokémon: Dark/Light  
Entry 1 :: Sunrise

"The world is immense! I can't wait to see it all!"

9 a.m. Always that time.

I awoke on my cozy bed. The sunlight seeping through the adjacent window would soon make it impossible for me to go back to sleep. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I pondered, like every other weekend morning, why I always woke up at exactly 9 a.m.

After spacing out for a minute or two, I finally removed myself from my friendly bed and walked out of my room to the stairs. My room isn't on the second floor, it _is_the second floor, so my door leads right down to the steps and absolutely nothing else. Walking down, the living room is what greeted me at the bottom. To my right, I saw my mom seated at the table by the door. She spotted me instantly.

"Hi, honey!" she said with her constant, jovial smile, copper-brown hair shining through the sunlight piercing the curtains. "Marley was here a earlier looking for you. She said something about going out."

"Alright, cool," I replied. I started back upstairs to change clothes.

Marley is my best friend. We've known each other for as long as we can remember, spending countless hours exploring and playing outside. We've even sometimes left the town and walked down the route, but seldom went all the way to the next town. I blame that on my lack of Pokémon, unlike her. She's got a Pokémon called a Chipmonk, which she nicknamed Chester. And this might sound weird, but I think that Chipmonk helped me gain my mental ability:

I can talk to Pokémon.

Okay, not talking like they do exactly, but I understand what they say and they understand me. It's never made sense to me, though. It's not even my Pokémon and Marley has no idea how the heck I do it. It just eventually became natural to me, I suppose.

I threw on my usual outfit: a white jacket with black shoulders and sleeves punctuated by plain black t-shirt underneath and underlined by a casual pair of jeans. And to top it all off (literally), I slapped on my black cap. Standing in front of my mirror, I turned it backwards like a professional Trainer on TV. Mumbling to myself that mom's gonna harass me about not getting a haircut (she apparently has a massive issue with shoulder-length hair on guys, dunno why), I ruffled it for fun just a bit before turning my cap forward. Time to leave.

Back down the steps, I gave a friendly good-bye to mom before walking outside into the peaceful ground of Sunrise Town. Looking up, I'm reminded why the town got its name: every morning, the sun rises over Mt. Sagend and creates a beautiful glow right above the peak that seems to connect the sky. Since the sun aims right at us at this time, you can only see this glorious image in this town.

Knowing Marley, she's probably waiting for me at the edge of town right by Route 58. I headed north past the few rows of houses. Such a small town it was; most likely the smallest in the Falloh region. Like I predicted, Marley was crouched on the ground right in front of a metal post with a circular sign having an arrow that turned left on a 90 degree angle, ROUTE 58 plastered right at the bottom on a separate, rectangular sign. I could hear her calling over to Chester playfully. Seeing that lovely green Pokémon dash into a warm hug, ah it warmed my heart. Chester in arms, Marley spun around and finally saw me.

"Oh, hey Jack!"

She put her Chipmonk down and adjusted her scarlet bandanna she always wore. I quite literally mean always, just so you know. She was like me in her choice of wardrobe: a simple purple hoodie left unzipped to show a plain white T-shirt and jeans at the bottom, simple and dandy like me.

"Kit said he'll be here in a minute," she said. "Oh, he's already here!"

An attractive boy, one would find, age 15 like us two, hair that would match mine perfectly if his wasn't blonde, and an always sideways smile, Marley and I could spot Kit from a mile away (but mind you, he was about 30 yards away). Dark, denim jeans and a light green jacket was his choice of clothing, simple and dandy like us two. What stood out from either of us, though, were the expensive studs in his ears that sparkled silver magnificently in the sunlight.

"How's it doin', mates?" His accent was awesome, hinting a touch of British.

"Sleep well?" Marley asked.

"Horrible. I was tossing and turning all night, tormented by the wait for today. A booming plan came to my mind."

"You and your plans," I chuckled.

Kit always dreamed of an adventure. When he's not out with us, he's busy indulging himself with TV shows and stories of travels and journeys to distant, faraway lands. He always talked about how he would get his first Pokémon and travel forever with it. And not just around Falloh, he would note, but to several other distant regions.

"_Some day, Jack. Some day, I _will_ get my first Pokémon. I want to see the world! I want to know all of its places! Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, right here in Falloh, I'm gonna see it all, Jack! You wait, I'll be everywhere, seeing the legendary Pokémon themselves and visiting the relics hidden on the planet. But not just these regions, you know. The world is immense! I can't wait to see it all! And you wait… I will…!_"

Those were his exact words when our friendship was still rather young, probably the only difference between him and Marley: Kit hasn't always been around. I still remember all those words by heart; it's inspiration to me. He himself inspired me to get a Pokémon, become a Trainer, and adventure around the world as well. So I made him a promise that day:

"_We're gonna do it, Kit. Together, you and me. And Marley! If she wants to, of course. We're gonna be explorers! We're gonna see the legends together, Kit. That's what best friends do, right?"_

Of course, Marley overheard it and said she couldn't help but tag along. After all, she's a pretty good brain at geography. She once told of an ancient village that rests atop Mt. Sagend that guards the sacred shrine that is said to be the nest of an ancient Pokémon. None of us know about the Pokémon, though. And of course, when Kit heard about it, he wouldn't stop raving about how he would see the ancient shrine and capture the Pokémon. He said he would become its protector. Since that's the grand legend of the Falloh region, he made that step one of our journey.

"So, what master plan have you come up with today?" Marley said, always curious.

"I did a little research," he began. He set his Trainer's bag on the ground and fondled inside until he finally pulled out a paper with a photograph that looked like something off Devon Maps. "Professor Douglas at Sunset Town has a _huge_ ranch, home to many Pokémon."

"We know that," I casually replied. "So?"

"_So_," he finished for me, "you don't think 'ol Douglas wouldn't mind us taking a couple Pokémates off his hands? After all, it's home to—literally—_thousands_. His ranch is a massive gallery of Pokémon.

I looked at Marley for a response, but she was already looking at me. She smiled suggestively and shrugged her shoulders. We both turned back to Kit.

"Sounds like a good idea to me," I said. Kit gave a happy, open-mouthed smile. Marley seemed to have second thoughts, though.

"But wait," she said. "I've had Chester for a while, but she's not very experienced for battle…" Marley wasn't like most Trainers, she didn't want to have a super-buff Pokémon or a title of Champion. Therefore, along with being a quite protective person, she was always worried about Chester's safety in a plot like this.

"Don't worry about it," Kit replied. "The Pokémon around here aren't strong anyway. Any Pokémon can keep us safe around this route as long as you stick to the clearing."

Chester gave an agreeing cry that let Marley smile down upon. Kit clasped his hands together.

I looked at Marley and she was looking at me. She smiled suggestively and shrugged her shoulders and we both turned back to Kit._"_

"So! You's might want to tell your parents so they don't go all crazy when we get back, y'know?"

"He's right, I need to get my bag anyway," Marley said.

"Okay," I nodded. "We'll meet back here in 10 minutes."

We dashed back to our houses. Marley and Kit lived towards the entrance while I lived in the back of town. I ran so fast that I almost slammed into the door. I blame my shoes; could really use a new pair. But that didn't matter to me. An adventure! I'm pretty sure I already said I've been to Sunset Town before, but that was two or three times. And if I thought that just that was a journey to behold… Yeah, I'm gonna have a good time.

I swung the door open and raced upstairs to my room before my mom could even say 'Back so soon?' Upstairs, I remembered to withdraw my Potion I had stored in my PC. On the desk, I snatched up my journal. Not much has been collected, but some nights I would stare at any filled pages, dazzling my memory. It's silly, I could show anyone what my life was like and they might think it's pathetic. But I think that's one of the best things about myself: I take such happiness in the littlest things.

I looked at my bed and my floor. There's clothes scattered everywhere, making me wonder if I needed an extra pair or not. We camped out along the route one time, but another trip was made in a single day. I would call one of my friends, but my Pokévice (Pokémon Device) hasn't come in yet… I'm getting a new one from Starcres City (where they manufacture them) since my other one broke with its warranty in place. I stuffed a change in anyway. Better safe then sorry. Finished with my light packing, I rushed backstairs where mom finally caught me by the door.

"What's the hurry, honey? And why do you have your Bag?"

"Me and the others are going to Sunset Town again!" I exclaimed.

"Right now? You probably should've said so earlier…"

"Don't worry, Mom," I said. I took the Potion out of my bag and showed it to her. "I've waited for this moment."

She repeatedly switched her gaze from the item to me.

"You sure know how to plan ahead," she finally said. I beamed slightly before she gave a small sigh. "Do you have your Journal?"

"Extra pair of clothes?"

"Yes."

"Oh, wait one second…" she said as she scooted to the cabinet by the opposite wall. She began searching the bottom shelves.

"Come on, mom, they're waiting!"

She scuffled around the cabinet, mumbling that she needed to get it cleaned. "A-ha!" she exclaimed and walked back to me with a plain, black box.

"I got these for you last night," she said.

I received the box and opened the top. I carelessly tossed the tissue paper away to reveal what was beneath—a new pair of shoes! They were black with blue lining and a cerulean lightning bolt plastered on the opposite sides. It matched my jacket quite a bit, though that was probably the idea.

"New shoes! Cool!" I exclaimed. I immediately slipped off my old shoes and fit into them.

"Yeah," she smiled. "They're great running shoes, I've been told. And they're really sturdy, so they should last you a long time, unlike your crummy old ones."

"Ain't that the truth," I chuckled. I hated those shoes. "Thanks a lot for this, mom," I said, giving her a big hug before walking out the door.

"Bye, honey! Be safe!" she called from the front step as I raced through the rows of houses. The shoes felt great with each step. As I ran past the last houses, I saw the fortunately patient Marley and Kit waiting. I exited the town and met up with them where the road started.

"About bloody time," Kit joked.

"Sorry, guys," I said. "Had to come prepared." I showed the Potion.

"Ah, perfect!" Marley said. "Now we don't have to worry about Chester getting injured along the way."

"Have you really kept a Potion since the last trip?" Kit asked.

"A-yup," I said. I put it back in an empty pocket in my Bag. Kit gave a simple laugh.

"That's almost a year old! You're crazy sometimes, man."

"And yet, craziness is how we get through our lives."

"Aaaand speaking of crazy, where's the girl?"

We turned back to the road. Marley was already walking down the path, Chester at her heels. We ran after them.

"Ladies first, after all," she remarked.

"Oh shush, crazy lady," Kit said once we caught up.

And thus, our little adventure began. Three best friends walking on an adventure for a bigger adventure.

-End of Entry-

_Ah, feels good to write this again. Or, rewrite rather. That's one of the few pluses about re-uploading these stories, they got 10 edits or so before being uploaded again. Maybe if we're SUPER lucky, this will be the last edit ever made to the story ever! But anyway, I hope you enjoyed this, this story took quite a while to plan out. Of course, though, that was the beginning of 2011, where Pokémon Black was on pre-order and Your Favorite Martian has 5 songs. That was a good year. And rest in peace, YFM._

_Here's a minor OC submission to get you started (I was nice enough to move it from chapter 8 to here :3). These will be route Trainers, and they'll only take place in one chapter and then like die or something I dunno. If you want a major role, I still have two spots in another OC submission somewhere else in the story..._

___Name:  
Age: Preferably young, though adults do in fact exist in the routes.  
Don't worry about putting the hometown, since this is region is only in use by me. I'll just have the character originate from a reasonable place.  
Height:  
Weight:  
Appearance:  
Personality: THE MORE DETAILED, THE EASIER IT IS FOR ME TO WORK WITH! HINT HINT!  
Role: Are they a friend or foe? Will they be battling with the group of lame, generic Trainers, or will they be goofing off in the grass with the wild Pokémon? Of course, you're not limited to these two options ;)  
Pokémon Team: Again, this is very early in the 'game,' so limit your evolutions, amount of Pokémon, and movesets according to that. I can modify the movesets easily to better suit the story, but the Pokémon these people have MUST be part of the BW2 Pokédex (unless it's a Nidoran, heh)._

___Anyway, hope this will expand my audience. Thanks for reading!_


	2. Route 58

_Thanks to androidyumi99_ _for doing neato stuff.  
And The Next Man. Yeah, I see you :3_

Pokémon: Dark/Light  
Entry 2 :: Route 58

"I love helping Trainers and their Pokémon. It makes me feel happy."

We walked merrily along the clear path of the route. The Pokémon around these parts are docile, but even the attackers pose little to no threat to even inexperienced travelers. Some of the Pokémon would poke their heads out of the trees that outlined the road, or from the occasional patches of tall grass. Above, small bird Pokémon flew above, calling out.

"Those are Wingull," Marley mentioned. "They're small at that stage, but they evolve into pretty big bird Pokémon with impressive beaks."

I've already known some of the Pokémon around the area, but seeing an unfamiliar face gave me the spirit of adventure _(A.N. lol up reference)._ We walked past another patch of grass, where Chester chimed at a short, two legged Pokémon with creepy red eyes, known as Patrat.

I suppose I should talk about what a Chipmonk is, since I've been told they're only found in Falloh. They're small Pokémon of a very light green and have purple stripes on their backs. On its head is a darker-green sort of cap, somewhat resembling an acorn, and on its underside was a very soft fur where the green faded into white. The most unusual thing about this Pokémon was its telekinetic abilities, giving the identification of a Psychic-type, but it was obvious that it was also Grass-typed.

We've walked a little more than 5 minutes at this point, still on familiar land. We've dotted the path close to town countless times. Usually, we stop when we find the turn. It came closer to us.

When you look at a map of Falloh, Sunrise Town is part of the Sunset Peninsula, along with the Pokémon League (which is actually what Sunset Peninsula is known as) and Sunset Town. The road starts with Sunrise Town which then turns and eventually leads to Sunset Town. From there, it's a long marine route that turns around toward the peninsula again. The road to Sunset isn't too long compared to most, and it's easy to follow since the path has been cleared.

We finally came across the turn, a 90-degree angle to the west. From there, it's a mostly straight path of land to Sunset Town. We passed the angle, leading to a more unfamiliar land.

"If I remember clearly," Kit recalled, "we should be at Sunset Town in a couple of hours."

"Are you sure?"

"That's what I remember."

The path kept rolling on. More and more minutes passed. We at times found noticeable obstacles that we've seen before, like a large rock jutting out of the earth that looked to have a big chunk of its top blasted away. The Pokémon stayed familiar, but the road gradually became more and more like a phantom or a forgotten memory.

I looked up at the cloudless sky. A small flock of wild Pidove flew just over the trees, likely hunting for prey. Surprisingly to me, few evolved forms were appearing. The Tranquill are usually the hunters, while the Pidove litter the treetops and grass patches. I saw a green and yellow worm-like Pokémon, a Sewaddle, if I remember correctly. One of the Pidove suddenly swooped down and snatched the worm away from the ground and away from my eyesight. Nature is harsh, but yet it still fascinated me.

From the left side, I heard the Rattata brush through the trees, probably hunting for an occasional berry tree. Chester went ahead and took the lead. He seemed to love the scenery and presence of wild Pokémon. Suddenly, he stopped, and so did we, the latter confused a bit.

"What's he doing?" Marley asked me. I shrugged my shoulders.

Around us, seemingly from different directions at once, we heard the cry of a Pokémon I've never heard. Although it seemed like it was in multiple places, it was just the sound of one. Clover dashed to the edge of the dirt road and stopped near the trees. The wild Pokémon seemingly stopped and was now in a stable position. Finally, it showed its face.

It was a green Pokémon. It suspended itself from a tree branch from its right hand, its green and yellow-ish face grinning at us. Chester began communicating with it.

'_You don't look like a Pokémon from around these parts,' _I heard the Pokémon say in its own language. From its voice, I assumed it to be male.

'_My Trainer says I was a gift from a Pokémon Professor,'_ Chester replied.

'_You're a trained Pokémon? I don't meet very many of you. What's it like?'_

"Wow, a Pansage!" Marley exclaimed. "They're rare! What's it saying?"

"Nothing really," I answered. "The other's asking it about being trained."

The Pansage dipped into the tree for a moment and I thought it had gone, but it came back. It dropped as much fruit as its little arms could carry.

'_Here! A gift for you and your trainers,' _the Aipom said.

'_Thank you!' _Clover responded. _'You're quite kind.'_

'_I love helping trainers and their Pokémon,' _it said. _'It makes me feel happy.'_

'_Why don't you come with us? We're on a journey to get more friends.'_

'_No thanks, fellow grass-type. I'm on a journey of my own, I'm looking for my brothers.'_

'_Brothers?'_

'_Yep, two in total, looking like me but not me. Seen them?_

'_Sorry, I haven't…'_

'_Well that's okay, I didn't expect you to anyway. But, fellow Grass-type, I hope we meet again in the future!'_

'_I look forward to that! Good luck finding your brothers!'_

'_Thanks! Bye-bye for now!'_

The Pansage disappeared in the trees. I heard his cry fade away into the woods. As the two Pokémon had conversed, I filled the other two in on what they were saying. They get fascinated by my ability every time I use it. What the Pokémon say, I'm sure that it's not their exact words, but I'm sure it's something along the lines of what I think.

"That Pansage was very kind," Marley said. She walked over to the pile of fruit left behind, stuffing it all into a large pouch that connected to her bag. "I'm sure he'll find his family."

"I hope we get to see more Pokémon like that on our adventure," I said.

"I'm sure we will. Maybe even Pansage's brothers," Kit said. "C'mon, we should keep moving."

We kept walking, but Marley kept her head turned to the same trees.

"That Pansage must be tough for traveling so far," she thought aloud. "I mean, think of all the other Pokémon. Some species are more hostile than others, you know."

"I wish he could come with us, though," Kit said. "He would've been useful for our journey."

"It'll be okay," I said confidently. "He has his own path like we have ours."

We continued walking and walking down the dirt road. The wind was gentle, but at times billowed to our east. I think I daydreamed at this point for quite a while, assuming to be an hour until Kit halted us suddenly.

"Whoa, stop a moment, guys," he said.

"Why, what's wrong?" I asked. He pointed a finger to the trees on the left. A white and red Pokémon that stood upright and only a bit shorter than us glared in our direction. It boasted its impressive claws and gave a menacing look.

"What is that?" I asked.

"That's a Zangoose," Kit said. "What's it doing way out here…?"

Suddenly, behind us was a hissing noise. We turned the other direction to see a black and yellow snake with a sharp tail and piercing, red fangs. It hissed as if it were taunting us.

"Oh no…" Kit said. "That's a Seviper…"

I was confused. I had not seen these Pokémon before, but even Kit, the brave adventurer, was looking frightened.

"We need to get out of here."

"What?"

The Zangoose got into position. It stood on all fours and growled.

"MOVE!"

We dashed away, still on our heading. That's when I realized that the two Pokémon we're not interested in us at all. Behind us, I saw the two savagely leap for each other. The Zangoose, however, overpowered the snake, but the Seviper didn't give up. The two brawled fiercely still, but I turned the right direction. They soon became out of sight and we slowed to a walk again.

"What was that?" Marley asked, breathing a bit heavily from the run.

"Zangoose and Seviper are bitter rivals," Kit said. "No one's been able to determine why, but every time they see each other, they can't help but fight. It's an endless and brutal battle."

"So, we were nothing to them?" she asked.

"We meant no more than the trees did to them," he answered. "They only focus on the enemy. Still, though, one can still attack when the other is not around. They both can be formidable foes."

A few minutes later of silent walking, Marley pulled out her Pokévice. She examined something on it for a minute and placed it back in her jeans pocket.

"We're almost at Sunset Town," she announced proudly. "Only about 30 minutes from here."

"Good," I said. "We've made great time."

"Uh-huh!" She said. She then turned her attention. "Hey, look at that!"

A sort of goldenish-brownish worm Pokémon with a small barb on its head wriggled into the center of the road. It also had a sort of barb on its tail.

"It's a Venipede!" she said. "I've never seen one around these parts before."

Chester seemed interested. She walked over to the migrating worm.

"Be careful, darling!" Marley said. "That Pokémon is poisonous!"

The Venipede paid no attention to neither us nor Chester. It just kept its mind to itself and tried to carry on. Chester doesn't like that. She tried to gain its attention, but all it did was jump up off the dirt and dug its stinger deep into the Pokémon. Chester started to cry out in pain, but Venipede wouldn't let go.

"Oh no!" Marley cried. She came over running although we were only a few feet away. "Come on, let go!" she pleaded, but Venipede wouldn't remove itself from the chipmunk.

"HEY!" Kit shouted as he made his way to the scene. "GET OFF!" Without hesitation, he gave a devastating kick to the Venipede, enough to remove it from Chipmonk and knock it far away.

"Kit! You just…!" Marley cried, picking Chester up and holding her in her arms.

"Yeah, get out of here, you stupid bug!" Kit shouted to Venipede as it ran away to hide in the bushes.

"KIT!"

"What! What, a wild Pokémon is more important now? Look what it did to Chester!"

"I know, but…"

"We've still got a way to go and Chester's a Grass-type. Poison is super-effective to Grass. And what's worse, that bugger kept its pointer in so long that it poisoned him!"

"Jack has a Potion, though, remember…?" Marley peeped softly, doing her best to keep her optimism.

That's right! I had completely forgotten. I opened my bag and immediately found the Potion. I had it ready for use—I watched a show a few times where they talked about using items.

"Yeah, 'cept it won't work," Kit replied, shaking his head. "The Potion would fix him, yeah, but only temporarily. The poison will just keep damaging Chester."

"Oh… oh…" Marley said softer than ever. "Chester, I'm so sorry…"

Kit sighed. "Just relax. We'll run and get to Sunset Town as fast as we can. Lucky for us, there's no tall grass in the middle of the road. When we get in town, we go straight to the Pokémon Center, it's right at the front of the town.

"And along the way?" she asked.

"Like I said, it won't cure poisoned Pokémon, but it'll buy him some time."

What would we do without Kit? Marley seemed to gain confidence.

"Seems like our only plan," she said.

We took off running again. Marley cradled Chester in her arms tightly. The Pokémon seemed sick and was sweating noticeably. I felt bad for the poor Pokémon. Around 15 minutes in, Chester seemed ready to faint, but I sprayed his wound with the Potion. Like they said, the poison wasn't gone, but Chester seemed almost good as new. For now, anyway…

We kept running. We didn't stop. About 10 minutes later, we finally saw buildings in the distance. Sunset Town loomed ahead. Unfortunately, Chester was ready to faint again. And he did. We stopped and notice its eyes change noticeably and its senses had shifted. Marley was in tears at the sight of her Pokémon fainting for the first time, but Kit put a hand on her shoulder.

"It'll be okay," Kit said. "If we're gonna go on an adventure, this is going to happen often. Your Pokémon will be good as new once we get into the Pokémon Center. Plus, you'll see that after this adventure, it'll be more experienced than ever. So don't cry, Marley. Everything will be okay."

"The boy's right."

A voice said that mysteriously from behind. We turned around to look for it when we saw a tall, young man with a stubble and short hair walking toward us. He wore only casual clothing.

"Professor Douglas?!" Marley gasped. The man smiled. No way!

"Let me see you Pokémon, little lady," he said. Marley carefully handed Chester over to the Professor, who held it up gently and examined it.

"Walk with me," he said in a friendly manner. Good idea, since we didn't want to waste any time standing around.

"Chipmonk are very rare Pokémon," said the Professor. "In fact, one of the very few places in the world where you can find them is my ranch. Where did you get him?"

"My mom traveled to a faraway region a few years ago. She the local Professor Redwood and he gave it to her."

"Ah, good friend, Professor Redwood." Professor Douglas returned Clover. "You mother is very lucky to have met her."

"Uh-huh!" Marley exclaimed. "She said she was very kind."

"Professor Redwood is one of the nicest people I have ever met. She is very devoted to Pokémon and sacrifices an incredible amount of her time to very beneficial research. She shows true kindness. Anyway, this Pokémon has fainted! What happened along the way?"

"It got poisoned by a wild Venipede," she said.

"Ah, poison is the number one threat from wild Pokémon around the peninsula. It's okay though; our Poké Center has plentiful Antidotes. What about you two boys, are you not Pokémon Trainers?"

I spoke up first. "None of us are Trainers, actually, sir." Professor Douglas laughed. At this point, we came across the saturated green hedges that outlined Sunset Town; we were finally here.

"You don't have to call me 'sir,' sonny boy," he said. "In fact, you can call me Doug if you want. But you don't have your own Pokémon?"

"No, sir—err, I mean, Doug," I said weakly. Professor chuckled, and then scratched his head.

"You three should heal at the Pokémon Center here and then see me at my ranch," he said. He stopped us right before a red building that stood out from the others: the Pokémon Center.

"Where is your ranch?" I asked.

"It's on that road down there," Doug said, pointing to the town's exit that led to Route 71. "You'll walk for a few minutes before seeing a good-sized house with smoke coming out of a stone chimney. That's my house. The ranch is the land all around it, so just come up to the fence by the house. I'll be there."

"Okay. We'll see you in a while then," I said. "Thanks a lot, Doug!"

Doug smiled as he entered the town and disappeared to the left. And then, we started for the Pokémon Center.

-End of Entry-

_I'll be so royally pissed if the X&Y Professor is named Professor Douglas.  
Or Redwood.  
_


	3. Professor Douglas

_NEW EEVEELUTION ERMAHGERD.  
VICTINI+SKYLA+FENNEKIN=__**THE BEST POKÉMON. EVER. MADE.**_

Pokémon: Dark/Light  
Entry 3 :: Professor Douglas

"The best memories of my life are the ones I've shared with those close to me."

At long last, we were inside the Pokémon Center, unarguably the number 1 pit stop for any traveler. Here, you can rest your tired or worn-out Pokémon to full strength and then check out a room like a hotel: all for the low, low price of nothing. And then even more convenient, each building has a vendor that sells items for Trainers.

A kind lady with bubblegum-pink hair stood at a counter along the back wall, a large and complex-looking machine sitting behind her. Marley walked up to the lady and didn't even have to ask about Chester.

"Oh my!" the pink-haired lady said. "It seems you were too late…"

"Are you able to heal it, Miss?" Marley asked.

"Why of course! You have his PokéBall, yes?"

"Of course," Marley replied. She took the lone PokéBall off her belt and commanded Chester to retreat inside. A red laser shot out of the PokéBall and onto Chipmonk and turned the Pokémon into the same color when the command was said. The Pokémon disappeared inside the small red and white capsule. Marley placed the ball onto the counter and the nurse collected it. Personally, Marley prefers Chester outside of his ball because he's her only Pokémon and the two share an inseparable bond, and both have an endless interest in the outside world.

"Thanks, sweetie," she said with a kind voice. "It'll take a few minutes for you Pokémon to fully heal."

"Thank you so much," Marley said whole-heartedly.

"It's only my job."

I took some time to look around the lobby. There were quite a few people here despite the town's small size. I actually can't remember being in a Pokémon Center before, so it gave me a bit of a feeling like I was in an urban area. There were people on benches with some sitting at PC's, the same models as mine at home, even. Beside the nurse's counter were glass automatic doors that led into rooms that I didn't try to access. They most likely were for Pokémon with critical conditions. By the building's entrance, there was a concession stand that sold Pokémon items like I mentioned before. That was all to the Pokémon Center for now, so I secluded myself from my group and decided to take a look outside, since I was busy talking to Doug and didn't get a chance earlier.

As expected, Sunset Town is peaceful. A wall made from a hedge at least 10 feet tall marks the entrance of town, which was in the form of an arch. The trees were cleared to build the wall. The grass is an impressive green and had a perfect nature-filled aroma. A couple of houses were built by the entrance, one on each side, but the main housing sections were beside this central area. Directly north of the arch was the Pokémon Center. By the look of it, the Pokémon Center was built right in the center of town.

Sunset Town's much like my own hometown: small and admittedly boring. I walked back inside and heard the machine whirr as the nurse was operating it. At the item stand (or whatever it's really called), Kit was negotiating with the clerk. He acknowledged my sight and continued his shopping. Marley was simply looking around, so I joined her to keep her company.

"This place is lovely…" she said peacefully. "The interaction of people and Pokémon here is wonderful. I read that they have fields out back where you can have practice battles. If Chester was experienced enough, I would love to have Trainers battle their Pokémon with me."

"It's like this place was built so Trainers could befriend and interact with each other," I said.

Marley agreed. I heard Kit thank someone at the counter and then come back with a bag of items.

"Good news, mates," he said satisfyingly. "I've got more than enough junk to last us the trip back. Heck, we have more than enough for each of us!"

Marley and I inspected the bag as Kit placed it down: 10 Potions, 3 Antidotes, 2 Awakenings, and 2 Paralyze Heals. We were impressed that he even had the money.

"Wow, nice work Kit!" Marley said. A slow ding was heard, and a screen shown green above the counter where the nurse was. Marley walked over to the counter where Chester's PokéBall was placed. She took the ball and released Chester from the capsule, who gave a happy cry and smiled up at her.

"Oh, my little Chester!" she said as she picked it up. "Thank you again for everything, nurse."

"You are quite welcome, dear," the nurse replied. "Please come back any time you like."

Marley came back, Chester brimming with health. Kit and I were glad to see him well again. While she was gone, we stuffed all of Kit's stuff into our bags for safety.

"Now then!" Kit said. "Professor Doug is waiting, yeah?"

We exited the building and into the town. People were scattered around the town, as if they were all friends. We turned to the right, the west side of town. Not many houses were here like the east side.

It didn't take long before we were on the next route. Even though the previous route was numbered 58, this was Route 71, because it's one of the routes to the Pokémon League. We walked for at least five minutes when, sure enough, we saw a beautiful, yet not too large home. A stone chimney jutted out with homely smoke spewing out its tip. A western-style fence enclosed an incredibly large yard. It must be his ranch, though I didn't see many Pokémon outside... But Kit said his ranch stretches for several miles. It must continue into the trees. A man stepped out of the periwinkle-colored house onto a wooden deck on the side.

"Professor Douglas!" Marley called.

He looked over and noticed us immediately.

"Oh, hey!"

"I see your Chipmonk is good as ever," he noticed as we met him at the fence.

"Uh-huh!" Marley exclaimed. "I named him Chester. I must say, those Pokémon Centers are wonderful. Everyone is so peaceful and kind."

"You'll see them in every city from now on, including the ports," Doug continued. "The lady there, Nurse Joy, is incredibly kind and has many sisters like her that operate them."

"That's great!"

"Anyway, come on inside! Just climb the fence, don't worry."

Marley set Chester down and climbed over as Chester was able to crawl under the open fence. Kit was curious.

"Aren't you afraid of someone breaking in with a fence like that?" he asked.

"Oh, _believe me,_ people break in all the time," Doug answered. "But it's okay. I've got a great security system and the police monitor it, so it's all good. They try all the time, but they're always caught. I made my fence like that on purpose, because I knew criminals would attempt to steal my precious Pokémon and destroy the habitats they've made here. Actually, the Pokémon aren't even really mine. The land is, though, so they're still breaking the law. The Pokémon migrate here because land here is perfectly suitable. There are several different environments here in just a few miles of land. That's why I built the ranch here."

Kit gave an intrigued nod as he climbed over the fence after me. Doug led us into his cozy, yet spacious home. The door led right into an impressive kitchen.

"Make yourselves at home!" he said. We placed our bags over by a table sitting next to the wall. "Are you guys hungry? I don't mean to brag, but I make a _delicious_ stew."

"Why, thank you," I said. I love stew. Maybe I should move here. The people here are wonderfully kind. Plus, THEY MAKE STEW.

Marley and Kit sat down at the table and examined the pictures plastered all over the walls. They told silent tales of Professor Doug as a kid, a high-school graduate, and many others in recent years. I was over at the fridge. Many different Pokémon-esque magnets were scattered over its doors. Most were portrayed as a cartoonish headshot of a Pokémon. Doug worked by the counters, cutting meats and vegetables and depositing them into a tall pot. I sat at the table and looked at the pictures on the wall with my friends. One towards the middle with a beautiful frame showed him and Professor Oak shaking hands. Some were even interesting, especially this one that showed the legendary Suicune and Entei—together! Professor Douglas didn't seem old in the slightest, but he seems to have had impressive encounters and met many notable people.

Doug closed a lid on a now functioning pot and sat over with us.

"The stew will be ready in a little bit," he said.

"Are those the actual Pokémon in that?" I said, pointing to the Suicune/Entei picture.

"Oh yes," he said. "The most breathtaking thing I've ever seen. After I managed to take the picture, Entei ran off, but Suicune… Suicune stared at me. Stared at me for, oh who knows how long; the seconds felt like eternity. It cried, not roared, cried at me before running off. It was beautiful… A sight that only few would ever see… Absolutely cherishing…"

He was staring off at nothing as he was saying it. He realized that and then snapped back to life and apologized with a nervous laugh.

"I get a little carried away with my memories sometimes."

"That's okay," Marley smiled. "We're like that sometimes."

"I wish I had memories like that," Kit said. "I would live my entire life just to see a Pokémon like that."

"You're entire life?" Doug asked. "Oh, son, don't be like that. My memory of Suicune and Entei is impressive, but the best memories of my life are the ones I've shared with those close to me."

I patted Kit on the shoulder. "Don't worry," I said. "We'll see a legendary Pokémon together. And then it'll be an impressive memory as well as a close one."

I looked at Marley and she nodded to me. The professor gave a small, yet heart-filled laugh.

"You three are probably the closest group of friends I've seen in a while," he said as he leaned back in his chair. We all grinned in agreement.

"How 'bout you, Doug?" Kit said in his usual, casual and cool tone. "Who's close in your life?"

Douglas was ready for that. "My wife," he said confidently. "Allie."

"Oh my," Marley said. "I didn't know you were married."

Doug flashed a ring on his right hand.

"We met in high school. We were both top of the class," he said and pointed to the graduate photo. Sure enough, beside him was a spectacular young girl his age at the time. "Best battler in the whole school," he continued proudly. "She has a Bisharp that can K.O. anything. Beautiful Pokémon it is. (There was a pause.) Oh, the stew's ready!"

He got up and tended to the pot again. The aroma embraced the air, hugging the smell of flowers already suspended in the atmosphere. Doug whipped out four white bowls and served the stew evenly in each. He held one in each hand and another was balanced expertly in his left joint. We feasted on the fresh stew happily. He wasn't joking when he said delicious.

"This stew is impressive!"

"The flavor is wonderfully balanced!"

"The ingredients are superb!"

"Thank you, thank you kindly, all of you," Doug said, pleased.

After a hearty and filling meal, I checked the clock. It was around 1:00 in the afternoon. Professor Douglas had promised that he would show us the ranch since he knew we were interested.

"You said you don't have any Pokémon?" he asked to me and Kit.

"That's right," Kit answered.

Professor Douglas thought for a moment and then turned around.

"Follow me," he said.

He led us out of the kitchen into the comfortably carpeted den and into the wooden-floored hallway. There was a staircase leading down at the end. He jogged down the steps and down to the tiled floor: the basement. I followed him, Kit right behind me, and then Marley following. I was surprised when I saw the room. It was incredibly spacious, filled with computers and bookshelves and weird machines and shelves of all sorts of PokéBalls. I wonder if Pokémon were held inside. Toward the end, he stopped at an odd looking machine with three PokéBalls.

"What's this, Professor Douglas?" Marley asked.

"It's just a machine that stores PokéBalls," he answered. "Today is the day where Kit and Jack get their very own Pokémon."

Kit gasped sort of laughed in amazement. "Are you serious?!" I shouted, on accident, but still shouted.

Doug gave his heart-filled laugh. "We live in a world with Pokémon. You three dream of seeing the world. Well, why on earth would you travel the world without Pokémon?! I've gotten to know you all, and you three seem very capable of living with Pokémon. So, Jack, Kit, today is the day where you receive your very own Pokémon!"

I was stunned silent. Kit had his mouth open in amazement, but with a smile. I think I saw a glimmer in his eyes. However, he turned to me and nodded his head to the PokéBalls as a sign to let me go first.

I stepped up to the machine. It had already been switched on. The PokéBall in the middle had its Pokémon's name on the screen. CHIPMONK was printed on it. I thought about it, but thought that it would be nicer if I picked a different Pokémon since Marley already had Chester. I pressed an arrow on the screen. FOANTIDE was shone on the screen. I have absolutely no idea what that is, but judging from 'tide' in the name, I'm assuming it to be a Water-type. I thought about it again, but I didn't really want a water Pokémon now. After pressing the arrow again, the last Pokémon's name appeared on the screen: PYROTE, without a doubt being a Fire-type, knowing the other two's typing. I like the Fire-type. I hear they're rare around here, so I felt as if this would be my only chance for a Fire-type for quite a while. I pressed the screen in the middle. The machine locks all the PokéBalls in place until you press that button. Pyrote's PokéBall unlocked and I took it. Professor Douglas made an intrigued sound.

"Pyrote is what you choose? Fire-types are rare in this region. I'm sure you'll be happy with it."

I smiled in my daze and stared at the PokéBall. _My_ PokéBall. _My_ Pokémon! I feel so happy now! Kit had come to a bit and took his turn. He didn't think as long as I did, as he just operated the machine and took a PokéBall.

"Foantide the Water-type? That's gonna be a useful Pokémon for traveling. There are a lot of obstacles in the water that you'll need to cross.

Kit stared in awe at the PokéBall. Together, on Kit's count of 3, we released the Pokémon. I observed my own Pokémon first. Pyrote was a small, orange Pokémon with some flecks of a darker-orange, looking very close to red. It resembled a bear cub. As such, it didn't have many standout features on its appearance. I sat myself down to have an even view with it. At first, it didn't seem like a very interesting looking Pokémon, honestly, until I noticed the small rocks lying around it (much like large skipping stones). Pyrote picked one up and attached it to his torso as if his body were covered in glue. I had a confused look on my face until he suddenly shot the rock out to my own torso, which I was reactant enough to catch with my hands. Pyrote looked happy.

"Pie pie!" he cheered, clapping. Looking at the rock and the Pokémon, I couldn't help but laugh in excitement.

"Hey, little dude!" I heard Kit say to his own Pokémon, Foantide. I turned to them, and saw a wonderful and small horse, not much bigger than Pyrote, actually. Its short mane and tail were both a deep black while the rest of its body was a dark blue. He gave a happy neighing sound at the sight of Kit, excited about seeing a new face. "I'm your new friend now. My name's Kit!" Foantide once again became excited, nudging Kit's chin as he neighed.

I looked at my Pyrote. He wasn't nearly as overjoyed as Foantide, but he seemed interested in me. He already had a rock attached to his stomach.

"Oh, wanna play catch?"

Pyrote gave an agreeing cry and fired the rock. After successfully catching it, I tossed it back to be caught, attached, and fired once again. And again. And again. I could do this all day… at least until the rock freaking exploded! I was about to catch it like normal, but instead it exploded in midair like a firecracker, bits of the rock flying like shrapnel.

"WHOA!" I said, jumping back a bit. "What the—"

"Oh… heheh," Doug said, laughing a bit. "Uh, yeah, Pyrote's signature move is its Rock Bomb attack, which you just saw."

"Exploding… rocks…?" I said, a little worried. Personally, I wasn't a fan of catching firecrackers.

"Don't worry," Doug reassured. "Pyrote can be a bit mischievous, but they never intentionally harm their Trainers."

Pyrote laughed, but he was clapping. I guess Doug was right. I couldn't help but laugh as well.

"You know, Jack…" Kit said curiously when I was done laughing. "All my life I've been waiting for this… I challenge you to a Pokémon battle."

A Pokémon battle. I watch battles all the time on TV. Trainers are so cool; they command the Pokémon to a specific attack, and the Pokémon wields it like magic! I always dreamed of being a person like that. And now, me and Kit finally can live that dream.

"I accept your challenge," I said proudly. Kit called his Foantide, and the dark blue Pokémon got ready for action. I did the same for Pyrote.

"You ready for this?" he asked. I nodded.

"No items!" I requested.

"Alright, let's do this!"

We took several steps back to give the Pokémon room. Doug told us the moves the Pokémon have shouldn't do any harm to his room now. Plus, there was plenty room anyway. He gave us the moves that they had: a basic Tackle attack, and a second attack that pertained to the Pokémon's type. Foantide had a move called Pursuit while my Pyrote had its Rock Bomb, as mentioned before.

"Alright, Foantide," Kit began. "Use Tackle!"

"Pyrote, dodge it with your own Tackle!"

The Foantide charged, but Pyrote was quick. He let the Foantide pass from the side and then Pyrote slammed into its side. A direct hit! I gave a wry smile as Kit gritted his teeth.

"Alright, Foantide, let's try Tackle again!"

Foantide got right back on his feet and charged again.

"Pyrote, use Tackle!" I commanded.

Pyrote charged at Foantide. I expected the two to collide like last time, but Kit had a trick up his sleeve.

"Foantide, jump before attacking!" he called, right at the last moment.

Foantide leaped into the air and smashed right down at my Pokémon. A clever attack, but Pyrote was strong enough to get up easily.

"Some advice, Kit," Doug called. "Pyrote is a Rock-type, which means that Foantide's Tackle won't work much."

"Right," Kit said quietly. "Thanks."

"You okay?" I called to Pyrote. With his game face, he grunted to me with a nod. "Alright, Pyrote, jump on that desk over there!"

"Wait, what?!" I heard Doug say.

Pyrote ran backwards and jumped onto a desk by the wall. Papers flew and scattered under his tiny feet.

"Foantide, Pursuit!" Kit said.

Honestly, I didn't know what Pursuit did at the time, but I had a feeling that it wasn't very good. And it wasn't: Foantide gained a huge burst of speed, even after he made a great leap onto the table to slam into Pyrote.

"Damn…" I said under my breath.

"That's double the normal power, Jack!" Doug called again. "Pursuit is stronger when it's used on an escaping Pokémon."

Patrat. I thought I had the upper hand with Kit's Tackle not being able to work, but that Pursuit's gonna limit us a lot.

"Alright, Pyrote, let's stop them with Rock Bomb."

"Foantide, use Pursuit!"

Pyrote already had multiple rocks embedded onto his back. He took one off effortlessly and tossed it on the desk, where it exploded on contact. Unlike the exploding rock Pyrote tossed at me, this was a rather vicious explosion, which created a good amount of smoke and shrapnel, and Doug was seemingly stricken by the now damaged desk. I couldn't see Foantide, and neither did Pyrote, but Kit's look was otherwise convincing. Sure enough, Foantide came rushing out of the cloud, not harmed too much, and charged right into the unprepared Pyrote. That hit looked critical…

"Quick, Foantide, knock it off with Tackle!" Kit said. I pleaded for another Rock Bomb, but before Pyrote could get it ready, he was shoved off the desk by an unforgiving Tackle, ending the battle just like that. It was a little heartbreaking, losing my first match like that. I felt downtrodden until Doug clapped and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't be so down," he said. "That was a great battle! If you were just a little more prepared for Foantide's attacks, you probably would've won!" It did make me feel a bit better. He turned to Kit. "And you, young man! Such fine battling style! Using the environment for the strongest possible hits, why, you look as if you've got a load of experience before!"

Kit blushed a little. I grinned and flashed him a thumbs up. Marley clapped her hands and she joined us.

"Battling looks like so much fun," she said. "Doesn't having Pokémon feel like a dream?"

"I feel on top of the world!" I said, even though 30 seconds ago I was feeling gloomy. Kit and I called our Pokémon back to us, but left them out of their PokéBalls. Even though I lost, I was proud of Pyrote for battling that well, and reminded him of that. He seemed delighted to hear my praise.

Professor Douglas led us to a large-ish machine. It looked similar to the one Nurse Joy operated at the Pokémon Center.

"Here," he said. "Put your Pokémon back and I'll heal them with this machine. It's similar to those at Pokémon Centers; this one just takes a bit more time."

Kit and I commanded our tired Pokémon back in their PokéBalls. It suddenly made me wonder what happens to them once inside… or what they do…

Doug deposited the PokéBalls into the machine. He fiddled with the computer for a moment and the machine started to whirr. He turned to us and clapped into rubbing his hands.

"So, this hunk-a-junk is gonna be a while," he said. "I built it so it could hold more Pokémon in case of any emergencies involving multiple Pokémon, but it's not nearly as efficient as Pokémon Centers. So while we wait, you wanna see the ranch?"

"Sure!" we cheered in unison.

He led us out of his home and onto the side deck, which slowly descended into the backyard. Parked in the back under a jutting out roof was a small, red, odd-looking automobile. It looked like a giant-sized toy. Professor Douglas laughed nervously.

"Yeah, it seems kinda silly, I know," he said, rubbing the back of his head, "but it _is _convenient. I use it to explore the ranch without alerting any Pokémon or damaging the landscape, as it uses minimal energy."

It seemed like a reasonable idea. The car seated four, so we all had individual seats, but they were small, so we were kinda jammed in the tiny car. We weren't whiners, though. Chester leapt onto Marley's lap. Doug drove the car away through the large, clear backyard and into the trees. Right in the back area of the yard, a bridge separated the trees and led into a forest-like scenario. Inside, it was a natural pallet of Pokémon. All different kinds of forest Pokémon of many, many shapes in sizes crawled around the ground. Berries polluted the tree branches as the Pokémon feasted on them. Professor Douglas didn't say anything; he just smiled and let us observe the lovely scenery.

The most fascinated of all of us, though, was Chester. He gave loud calls and I heard multiple others greet it in return. If Marley wasn't holding him, he probably would've jumped straight out of the car. Some wild Pokémon even came up close to the car. I watched a mid-sized lady-like Pokémon, easily identifiable as a Grass-type, walk up, shake hands with Marley's Pokémon, bow in a sort of formal lady-like fashion, and skip away back into the forest.

"Lilligant," Marley said sweetly. "One of my absolute favorite Pokémon."

The car drove slowly along the cleared path and the trees thinned into tall grassland. More Pokémon littered the grass. There was a lake to our right, which seemed to be the most populated area in the region. I scoped in and saw a tall Herdier lick the pond. He or she looked up at us and barked towards somewhere else. Three Lillipup then gathered toward the larger dog and drank. The view wasn't as impressive as the trees, but the grassland and the Pokémon were still a sight to behold.

We pressed on for several more minutes, and then we came down to sand. Professor Douglas stopped the car and we were absolutely fascinated. Miles and miles of sea, as far as the eye can see. I couldn't help myself. I kicked off my sneakers and socks and ran out into the beach, down to the water, feeling the hot sand creep between my toes with each step and then letting the blue sea wash my feet. Marley and Kit seemed to get the idea as well, as they threw away their shoes and socks and joined me. Professor Douglas didn't mind at all. He smiled as we gazed into the open water. He loudly announced that he would be back shortly with our Pokémon and left us alone.

I waited no longer. I waded into the endless sea immediately. The waves were warm and simply relaxing. I balanced myself on top of the water and floated along the waves, seeing Kit run in after me. He had thrown off his shirt and splashed into the water, running. I was in a deeper area, four or five feet deep. He swam his last few yards toward me and then let his feet touch the seafloor beside me.

"Hey Jack, guess what," he said. I asked what, and a sudden blast of water greeted my face. Next thing you know, two guys were flailing their arms around, creating playful attacks of water at each other. Marley giggled over by the shore.

About 10-15 minutes later, we heard the buzz of the transport car's engine, and the sound of something being dragged across the sand, which I looked up to identify as a canoe. Our Pokémon called to us and came down by the water. That was as far as Pyrote was ever going to get. I shamefully laughed as he tried getting as close to me as he could, dodging the relentless waves, resulting in him running back and forth on the land to avoid the water. This went on for a bit. Foantide was a more interesting Pokémon; he didn't swim, he ran. He charged into the water all the way until he was entirely submerged. Kit felt something beneath him, which turned out to be Foantide coming up above the water, positioning himself so that Kit looked like he was riding him.

"Yeah!" Kit cheered to his Pokémon. "Go Foantide, go!"

Foantide gave his high-pitched neigh and swam rather quickly in circles around the water. The two looked like they were having a good time. Meanwhile, Pyrote may have gotten an inch or two closer to me.

Although we were practically on a vacation, Kit saw this as a great opportunity to train his Foantide for the first time. He collected water in his mouth and then sprayed it out in a straight jet to nowhere, prompting Foantide to do the same. I felt bad for Pyrote and his endless struggle against the waves just to be with me, so I walked out of the water and to the shore. Next thing I knew, a soft, dry towel was launched at my face by Doug. We both shared our laughter and I hastily dried myself off. Marley, Chester, Pyrote, me, and even Doug worked at a large sand castle. The finished product was admittedly kinda pathetic, but who cares, right?

The afternoon was drifting along more and more. Kit and Foantide came back. And guess what happened next? Foantide came right up to me and sprayed a jet of water directly at my face! It was surprisingly powerful, as it knocked me down, even momentarily making me feel like I was drowning. Everyone (but me) was literally rolling in laughter. Kit and Foantide fist pounded.

"Taught it Water Gun, mate!" he said, the laughter formed tears in the corners of his eyes. "It works!" He laughed some more.

My Pyrote stepped up to the plate. He walked up to Foantide, and before Foantide could use Water Gun on him, Pyrote had summoned a cloud of smoke right over him. It wasn't funny like the Water Gun, but it was impressing! I never taught it Smokescreen, but it used a very effective attack on Foantide.

"Touché, then!" Kit said, impressed like the rest of us. "I guess we're equal now."

"I suppose we are," I said with a sly grin. Pyrote gave a tuff puff of smoke away.

Professor Douglas retreated to the car and untied the canoe, which was connected by a thick rope. He dragged it out.

"Wanna go out in the sea?" he said.

"Sure!" us three said in unison.

Doug brought the canoe into the water and we all piled in. There was just enough room for all four of us plus our Pokémon.

That whole time out in the sea was just lovely. We didn't go far, just out in the deep water a little bit and stopped there. Doug was like a best friend to us now. We chatted, exchanged memories, and observed the beautiful sea Pokémon that swam below us. Even Pyrote was mezmerized by the water life.

After a fine period of time just talking as new and old friends, Doug took us back ashore. He pulled the canoe further from the water, but didn't reattach it to the automobile. Marley observed her Pokévice and was shocked at the time: 6:00! If we wanted to reach Sunrise Town before night, we needed to hurry. Professor took us back to his house, where we said our sad goodbyes.

"I'm sure you'll be back soon?" he asked.

"Of course!" Marley said promptly. "Before you know it!"

"Yeah!" Kit said. "We'll be traveling _everywhere_ soon!"

"Well, then, I look forward to it. Eagerly," Doug replied. We started to walk.

"Bye, Professor!" I said. "Thanks so much for everything!"

"You kids take care!" he responded. "And stop thanking me already! I'm more than happy making others happy!"

I laughed a little. "We'll be back soon!" I called. "I promise!"

We all waved away and soon Doug became out of view. Today was, hands down, the best day I have ever lived.

-End of Entry-

_I misspelled 'mezmerized' towards the end, if you noticed. That's because Mezmerize by System of a Down is one of my favorite albums of all time, and I like that spelling better._

_At the time of the original writing, this was my longest chapter ever. It's funny because there are way longer chapters in this story alone. Anyway, that's all for now. Thanks for reading!_


	4. The Beginning

_MOZILLA FENNEKIN.  
FENNEKIN'S EVIL PLOT TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD.  
COME HELP A GOOD CAUSE._

Pokémon Dark/Light  
Entry 4 :: The Beginning

"Don't worry! I've got all the time in the world."

We pressed on through the fresh path leading us home. After a couple of hours, close to 9 o'clock, we approached the ever familiar turn.

"I can't wait to show my mom my Pokémon," I said, looming down on my Pyrote, which I had recently named Axel. I thought that giving a Pokémon a nickname would be original, and I thought Axel would be a cool name.

"Yeah, me neither," Kit said. Foantide neighed happily. He earlier said he wanted to give it a nickname as well, but he struggled with it. I bet tonight he's gonna be tossing and turning like the night before thinking of one. "I can't wait to see the look on her face."

"She's gonna freak."

"Heheh… she knows as well as anyone how much I've wanted this."

We turned back south and soon walked into the peaceful suburbs. Marley's home came first.

"See you tomorrow, guys!" she said happily as she walked toward her home. We stopped and watched her go by.

"You too," I said as I waved to her with Kit. She stopped at the door and gave one final wave before walking into her home. Kit and I continued down the road until his own home crawled up. He patted me on the shoulder before walking towards his house.

"G'night, mate," he said before he walked onward.

"Try and get some sleep this time," I called jokingly.

"Don't worry!" he called back as he reached the front stoop. "I've got all the time in the world!" And then he opened the door, disappearing behind the threshold, leaving Axel and I alone. After another minute, my own home stood tall before me.

"Welcome home, Axel!" I said down to my Pyrote. He smiled up at me, seeming anxious to go inside. "Sorry, though. Mom's probably gonna bug you for a couple of days." I lifted the Pokémon up into my arms and opened the door. Mom was in the kitchen, but she automatically came out when she heard the door.

"Hi, honey! And _oh my gosh, it's so adorable!"_ Predictable. She rushed over and was already smothering herself with Axel. That's okay. Axel loves the love. "Oh, he's wonderful! Where did you get him?"

"We met Professor Douglas," I said happily. "He's totally cool! We saw his whole ranch, he gave me and Kit a Pokémon; really great guy he is."

"Wow, did you really?" Mom was amazed. "You three are lucky to meet a famous Pokémon researcher like him."

"Yeah, he's a really nice man who's seen a lot of places. Makes me want to go on an adventure like him someday."

Mom paused for a moment. "Well, honey, now that you have your Pokémon, the world is yours! If you want to have an adventure with your Pokémon, your mom's got your back."

I stood there for a minute, a bit bewildered. "Seriously?" I said.

"Why sure! I know how much you and your friends have been aching for an adventure with Pokémon. Well, why would I stop you?"

I still was a little dazed. Is this really happening?

"You've never been told this, actually, but I also wanted an adventure when I was your age. It doesn't surprise me one bit that you do too."

I was no longer dazed; I was more confused at this point. "Really?"

"Mm-hmm. Of course, you know I grew up in Saffron City, so there were many things to do, but I always dreamed of having an adventure."

"Well, how come you didn't?"

She sighed. "I didn't get any Pokémon. I could've, but at the time, Team Rocket was starting to form, making the Kanto region dangerous. I was afraid of them, so I stayed in the city. I didn't want the adventure as much as you kids, but it would've been nice to have one."

I thought for a moment, then said, "Why don't you come with us?"

Mom laughed a bit. "Oh, no, I couldn't do that. I'd be out of place and hold you guys back. You kids really wouldn't want to drag your mothers the whole way, right?"

"Well—but…"

"It's alright, dear," she said, smiling sweetly. "This is your adventure. You don't need your mom to look after you all the time, you know."

I sighed a bit. There was no arguing with her. Admittedly, I'd rather go without my mom anyway, but I felt it would be right to give her the opportunity. Suddenly, there was a ringing from the kitchen that shocked me a bit.

"Uhp," mom reacted, "dinner's ready!"

Mom cooked oven-roasted chicken. She always makes more than enough because I usually eat more than one serving, but this time I gave my extra portion to Axel, seeing as he didn't have anything else to eat. Have you ever seen a hungry Pokémon eat? It acts so delighted!

After dinner, Mom washed the dishes while I went upstairs with my Pokémon.

"Welcome to my room! And now, it's yours as much as mine."

He lay on my bed and I set up a small pillow and blanket for him on the side by the wall. Pleased, he relaxed himself on the blanket and quickly rested. I gently got on the bed and tucked my covers in and slowly drifted asleep.

x[]o

BANG!  
CRASH!  
"Ow!"  
BANGBANG!

The first three sounds were made almost simultaneously. The first was the sound of an explosion, the second being the sound of glass breaking, and the third being the sound of my pain. Something really tough had hit me, pretty hard at that. Shortly afterward, two more bangs were heard, one being rather distant, the other very close.

I turned on my bedside lamp. My bed was a little torn up from whatever that was, and now my window was broken. That was all I noticed before my mom came bolting up, turning the ceiling light as well.

"Oh my gosh, what happened?" she said alarmed.

Pyrote was still on the bed, dazed and confused. He was completely unharmed. I put a hand to my head and sighed. Then I realized my head was bleeding a bit. Pyrote must have fired multiple Rock Bombs, one of them hitting me.

"Oh no, Jack, are you okay?" Mom said, examining my head. She got a cloth and tried fixing it up a bit.

"Mom, I'm—I'm—Stop, I'm fine…" I said, a bit annoyed. I didn't need her doing this.

"Jack, this is going to be a problem…" she said, finished with my head.

I kinda wanted to be mad, but seeing Axel in his confused state made me realize that he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. It'll take some time, but he'll learn to control his abilities.

x[]o

"You ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

"And you?"

"Wouldn't be here if I wasn't, mate."

Two weeks have passed. The three of us were standing at the edge of town. The sunrise shown directly upon us. Marley stood in the middle, Kit on her right, and me on her left. She gripped our hands gently.

"Then let's go!" she said, and we took our first step together. With this walk down the road to Sunset Town, our journey finally began. The day before, we had gotten a call from Doug saying he had a special request for us in his lab, since he knew we were starting our adventure. We had been planning our adventure for the past two weeks and decided to start today since Doug asked us to come over as soon as possible.

I took my new Pokévice out of my bag. Five days ago, a small package had arrived at my house. Inside was the new Pokévice. The version I now have had just recently come out. It came with fresh new installments and improvements. That was one of the few days I didn't go outside on a sunny day, as I instead kept in my room, tinkering around with the device. It was a small rectangular object with a speaker and microphone like any other phone. Basically the whole face of the device is touch-screen. There were many different applications, being games or handy tools like the Flashlight app. The back of the screen had a camera and the camera would light up like a real flashlight. It also had other important features that it already had, like 4-way calling and a map.

I called Doug and let him know that we were on his way. He sounded delighted and couldn't wait.

Our Pokémon were ahead of us as they looked around at the scenery. For us, it was just another walk down the road, but they seemed interestingly fascinated by it. They're probably young and never had much experience in the outside world.

That reminds me of Pyrote's first incident a couple weeks back. It took a few days, but Pyrote stopped accidentally blowing stuff up in his sleep. Through tedious nights creepily watching him while he slept, I finally found the cause of the explosions: a sneeze. Yep. When Axel would sneeze, the rocks on his back would discharge simultaneously, and of course, explode, torching anything within the blasts. I'll admit, finding the cause cost me a great deal of sleep, but it's worth it. After that, I had him simply sleep without rocks attached to him, but even that didn't help, as his body would basically explode, acting like an Electrode. It's tiresome, but he's been sneezing a lot less now, or he's been able to figure out how to stop accidentally exploding.

After a couple of hours' worth of walking, we stepped into the vivid green-colored Sunset Town. The aroma was as fresh as ever. We continued walking past the town and down to Doug's house and knocked on the door. He quickly greeted us and sat us at the kitchen table, having fresh sandwiches ready.

"I hope you enjoy," he said. "My wife loves these kinds of sandwiches."

"That reminds me," Kit said as he took a sandwich off its centered plate. "My bad if I'm too curious, but where is your wife?"

"Allie? She's traveling the region for now, actually. You three remind me of her because she loves adventures as much as anyone."

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Marley said. "I'd love to meet her someday."

"I'm sure she'll feel the same way," Doug replied with a smile. "Today's… (he checked his silver wristwatch) Friday… so she should be leaving for Highdune Town today."

"Oh yeah, I've heard of that place," Marley spoke. "That's that town on the edge of the desert." Doug nodded and smiled.

When we finished our sandwiches, Kit spoke again.

"So what's this request you had for us?"

For a second Doug just stood there, looking at us, leaning against the fridge. His mind finally replied and he sprang to life.

"Oh! Yeahyeahyeah! Follow me!" He walked a bit quickly like he was in a hurry. He led us to the lab downstairs, back where Kit and I had our first Pokémon battle, and then to the end of the room to the desk by the machine where we first got our Pokémon. This quickly became all too familiar. He stopped at the desk and turned around to us.

"This is something I wanted to show you…"

Doug reached behind him and grasped a small device. It was about the same size as a Pokévice, but thicker had no screen and looked just like a case. He noticed that we weren't too impressed by the object and started explaining.

"This is the latest version of Pokédex. It opens up (he opened the Pokédex to reveal its two screens) and it keeps track of any Pokémon you see or catch. It's a high-tech encyclopedia! So, since you three are going on an adventure, this might be something neat to take along the way. I'm sure you'll figure out how everything works as you use it." He gave me the Pokédex he was holding.

"Hey, thanks!" I said.

"Mm-hmm. And you, Kit," Doug handed Kit another Pokédex on the desk.

"Thanks, Doug!"

"And you too, Marley," He did the same for Marley.

"Thanks a lot!"

"Absolutely welcome," he said. "Now, of course, this relates to my request for you… My request is that on your adventure, you meet every single Pokémon in the world."

"In the world?" Kit repeated.

"In the world. Yes. You see, even a researcher like me has limited knowledge about Pokémon. There are still many mysteries surrounding them. That Pokédex will give even more information about Pokémon when you catch them. It may seem like I have a lot of Pokémon already in the ranch, but everyone knows that this is only a small number compared to the amount worldwide. I'd love to go out into the world to see every Pokémon myself, but, well, there's the ranch and Allie… that's a little out of the picture…"

Doug paused for a moment. We waited for him to finish.

"Anyway, that's when you guys came along! The way you three are together, you're perfect people for the Pokémon world. I would never ask you guys if I thought even just a bit that you couldn't handle it."

I'm not entirely sure what he meant by 'perfect people', but I didn't want to ask now. Right now, my mind was gushing with thoughts of dazzling Pokémon that popular Trainers use, Pokémon seen only in myths and old legends, Pokémon never seen by any living being…

"Of course I will!" I exclaimed. Marley and Kit agreed as well.

"Great!" Doug exclaimed. "Aw, this is excellent! This will be a _huge_ help for my research!"

I flipped open the Pokédex. The only entries were Chipmonk, Pyrote, and Foantide. Each of them had a picture of the respective Pokémon. Pyrote's name had a PokéBall next to it. With the directional pad to the left of the bottom screen, I scrolled down to it. On the top screen, it showed Pyrote's picture and its Pokédex number, 650, as well as possible entries above and below that were blank. On the bottom screen, there were four different selections: Info, Area, Cry, and Forms. The bottom screen was apparently touch-screen, as I tapped on Info to see its section lit up with the top screen changing. It kept the same picture and showed Pyrote's type: Fire and Rock, the Pokémon it is: Pyrote (obviously), it's specie: the tiny bear Pokémon, its height: one foot, ten inches, its weight: 18.3 pounds, as well as its footprint and its description:

_It attaches rocks to itself and shoots them away. It is highly mischievous._

"Interesting," I said to myself. Even more interesting was that the picture was 3D even though I wasn't wearing glasses. Whoa.

"So how does this thing record data?" Kit asked.

"Oh, forgot about that," Doug said. "The Pokédex automatically scans a Pokémon when you see it with that camera in front, so you can automatically know what Pokémon you've seen. When you catch it, you can scan it for all of its other information."

"Oh, cool," he replied simply.

"So, you guys will help me?"

"Absolutely!" we all said.

"Splendid! I'm glad to hear that from all of you! Really glad! So, are you ready to start your adventure?"

"Damn right, we are," Kit grinned. Marley and I confidently nodded.

"Well, go on, then! Go see the world like you said you would! But first, my last gift to you before you leave—I'll start you each off with 10 PokéBalls to catch Pokémon."

"Wow, really?" I asked.

"Of course!" He reached below the desk and drew out three nets that each contained ten PokéBalls. He passed them out to us.

"Hey, thanks!" Kit said.

"Now, go on, you kids!" Doug said. "I'll see you three around!"

We started to walk out of the basement. I turned to face Doug as I walked. "Thanks for everything, Doug!" I said.

"No need to thank me," Doug smiled. "I'll call you when something comes up!"

"See you later, Professor!" Marley said.

"Yeah, see ya!" Kit also said.

"You kids go have fun!"

We walked up the basement steps and through the hall and den and exited the house. We walked through the yard and onto the dirt road that led us back to Sunset Town. Skipping the Pokémon Center, we went through the rows of houses ahead that led us to Route 59. Thus began an adventure with unforgettable memories waiting…

-End of Entry-

_I'll give it to you briefly: Pokévice=iPhone, Pokédex=Nintendo 3DS (mostly). It's like the real regions, they're based off of real places. But spoiler alert, since I haven't been able to scan my own, Falloh isn't based off anywhere.  
And on another note, sorry for being a few days behind the norm, though this should be expected later on when I begin my next FanFic. Two major snowstorms and an obsession with The World Ends With You kinda drew me away from here .  
But hey, since I'm a few days late (or mostly because this was a small filler chapter (which will be the last!)), I'll upload chapter 5 in a couple days. See you soon!  
_


	5. Missing

_Today, January 19__th__, was my first haircut in two and a half years.  
lol.  
(it's funny because this won't get posted until march or something)_

Pokémon: Dark/Light  
Entry 5 :: Missing (Route 59)

"All Trainers aim to be the best, right?"

I switched my Pokévice on. The time was about 10:30 in the morning. Checking the map, we were on Route 59, our way to Gloride City. The road smelled fresh of flowers tenderly in bloom. I watched a Pokémon known as a Combee collect honey and retreat back to its nest. A flower Pokémon unknown to me poked its head out of the trees beside us and back in.

Marley stretched her arms to the sky and then took a wide, blue book out of her bag. I recognized its black spine, it was her book of the Falloh region. She flipped through the pages until she stopped at her desired one.

"So what does it say about Gloride City?" Kit asked.

"It says here…" Marley began as she examined the pages. "Gloride City has the first of the eight gyms of this region."

"Awesome!" he butt in. "I'm gonna challenge 'im and all the other gyms in this region. That's how Imma be the best Trainer in the world!"

I was a bit weirded out. He always wanted to be a Trainer, but I don't think I've ever heard him talking about becoming the ultimate Trainer. "Huh," I said. "Never heard you say something like that before."

"Well…" Kit began, but he couldn't think of anything to say. "All Trainers aim to be the best, right?"

I could see knowledge in that statement.

"Not only that," Marley continued, "but the Gym Leader there has a special type of Umbreon."

"Special?" Kit said. "What does that mean?"

Marley shrugged. "Doesn't say. It just says 'special type.' However, their own TV station is right in the center of the city. The Gym is inside the station."

"Oh yeah!" I said. "Fight Night TV!"

Fight Night TV is a station that airs every day from midnight until 6 a.m. I've never seen the shows, though. Never really got the time to. Kit has a few times, but he's never seen the Gym Challenge show.

"Sweet!" Kit said. "I get to challenge a Gym Leader _and _be on TV!"

I sighed in a happy way. Kit always looks for popularity.

x[]o

It was about 2 o'clock. At one, we stopped because I gave the suggestion of training our Pokémon. Me and Kit decided to, at least. Marley was never much of a battling person, so she went off exploring with Chester while Kit and I went to work. Our Pokémon practiced their moves off each other, that is until Pyrote would get reasonably tired while Foantide would hardly break a sweat. Kit thought it'd be a good idea to battle some of the wild Pokémon, since Foantide had a massive advantage over Axel. I agreed, so we parted into the trees where tall grass lay. About an hour into our training, Kit called me over to him.

"What's up?" I asked when I got to him.

"Look," he said. Ahead was a small, yellow, humanoid Pokémon that had a sort of pair of pants, though it struggled to keep them up. The wild Pokémon looked at the both of us intently. I flipped open my Pokédex. The Pokémon appeared on the top screen along with its name, Scraggy.

"You know how to catch a Pokémon, yeah?" Kit asked.

"Sort of," I said. I saw one on Teachy TV when I was younger, but I've never actually witnessed one.

"Observe, mate. Foantide, hit it with a Tackle!"

Foantide ran to Scraggy at full speed. Before it got away, Foantide had knocked it down and away.

"Now, Water Gun, before it gets up!"

Foantide took a large bounce backwards and shot a forceful jet of water at the humanoid Pokémon. The wild Scraggy was clearly weakened.

"And now, the finish."

Kit tossed a PokéBall at the weakened Scraggy. It rebounded off of him and landed on the ground before opening and quickly vacuuming Scraggy in. The PokéBall wobbled around for a silent moment while the button flashed a color of red. Finally, at the same time, the PokéBall ceased to wobble and the middle button slowly gave its last flash of red. A slight ding was heard with it. Kit jumped with glee.

"Yeh-heah!" He walked up to the PokéBall and collected it. "Wicked awesome! I caught it!" He looked at me and noticed I was a bit impressed. For his first time, he did it remarkably. "Simple, ain't it?"

"Seems so," I said.

"If you decide to catch a Pokémon, let me know before you catch it so I can see. Oh, wow! I'm so happy about this!"

This made me wonder a bit what Pokémon I should catch for myself. My friendly Trainer instinct voted for any Pokémon I could find while my competitive Trainer instinct voted to catch the strongest one available.

By the time I make the decision for myself, we'd already be in Gloride City. I decided to give up for now so I could train Axel some more, so I left Kit alone with his new Pokémon and went back to my spot and continued to fight the wild Pokémon. Axel had definitely strengthened since this morning. He was beginning to fight the wild with ease. In fact, he was actually starting to show off a bit. He started bouncing off of trees onto Pokémon, spinning around with his Smokescreen followed by a surprise Rock Bomb, simply wreaking havoc on anyone that was brave enough to challenge him.

I noticed this Pokémon for a while, though. It was a Pidove that stood in a tree and watched us train, but I didn't see the need to bother it bother it. I only kept to the Pokémon in the grass. After a while, the Pidove finally descended. This thing seriously has a bad attitude.

"_Who the hell do you think you are?" _Pidove asked Pyrote. It was a female.

"_I'm Axel, the greatest Pyrote in Falloh!" _Axel really loves to brag. Pidove wasn't impressed. She kept complaining how he was hurting all of the Pokémon that lived here and we have no reason to be here and added that if we don't go home now, things might get 'ugly.'

"What do you mean by 'ugly?'" I asked. Pidove was so startled that she jumped.

"_You… you can _hear me?!_" _

"Yep."

"…_Well look at you too! Who the hell are you to come here, showing off your idiot Pokémon and that fricking mutant ability!"_

That caught me entirely off guard, even offending me a bit. I was blown away. I called Kit on the Pokévice and told him to come over _immediately._ He was over within the next minute.

"_Oh wow. What the hell is this! You called your crapfaced friend over here for backup? This is ridiculous!"_

I laughed. Kit was confused but I didn't tell him what she said.

"_Stop laughing at me, you moron! Go back to whatever hellhole you came from, you sissy! And you _(the Pidove turned to Pyrote), _go back to whatever experimental lab you escaped from, you prick! You're not welcomed here!"_

"You found a psychotic Pidove?" Kit asked me.

"_Psychotic?! COME HERE AND SAY THAT TO MY FACE."_

I decided that this was enough. I ordered Axel to attack her with Rock Bomb.

"_Oh yeah?"_

I initially thought this would be an easy match, but I was caught entirely off-guard as Pidove dodged Axel's relentless fury. She flew in the air and swooped down onto the bear, pinning him. I told myself that this was bad, especially with Kit watching. I called him over here just so he could see me lose again… this time to a wild, pissed off Pidove. I wonder what he thought right now. I really wanted to turn to face him, just to see his expression, but after this, I wouldn't want to face anyone.

"_You want to talk like a man, don't ya? You're just a kid and a wannabe! You ain't got NOTHING!" _I heard Pidove scream into the face of Axel, who was completely helpless. However, I paid attention and looked closely: it looked like Axel's mouth was… struggling?

"_WELL?!"_ Pidove screamed. Axel didn't say anything. It almost looked like he was gargling. _"Spit it out, for Arceus' sake!"_

And he did. A flaming attack shot out onto Pidove. Let me just underline the fact that that this was NOT pleasant for Pidove. Her face… was literally… on fire. Small flames bathed her head as she immediately bounced off of Axel, furiously flapping her wings on her face, trying to put the embers out.

"_YOU INSANE MANIAC!" _Pidove screamed in the angriest voice I've heard from any Pokémon. _"HEY! ALL YOU PRICKS UP THERE. STOP WATCHING AND GET. ME. SOME DAMN. WATER!"_

Her rage caught the attention of several Pokémon in their habitats on the treetops. They didn't know what to think of the situation, but to be fair, if I ever saw a wild Pidove with need of anger management of some sort, I wouldn't know what to think either. However, this situation was a good thing for me… I reeled in my bag and pulled out a shiny red and white PokéBall. I threw it square at Pidove. It bounced off, sucked in the Pokémon, and wobbled for a moment that felt like a lifetime. I heard the ring and sighed in relief. For a moment I was calm, but the next moment, I ran to the PokéBall that contained Pidove in excitement and grinned. I didn't actually know this was possible, but I heard Pidove faintly from inside the PokéBall.

"_Do you have any idea how much I hate you two?" _she said.

"Aww, you'll get over it. Won't love it until you try it…" I walked over to the tree where Pidove originally was and behind it to find an old rusted hatchet sticking out of the trunk, "…Hatchet."

"_What?" _Pidove asked.

"Hatchet!" I repeated. "That's what I'll call you!"

"_Hatchet? Now what in the holy Primeape hell kind of a name is Hatchet?!"_

"You'll get used to it. Come on, surely you don't want to be called 'Pidove,' just like every other one? Plus, the other nicknames I had planned out were Psycho, Rage, Taunt, and even Spit."

"_Uuuuuuggggghhhhh…"_

I checked its Pokédex entry. _'Each follows its Trainer's orders as best it can, but they sometimes fail to understand complicated commands.' _Maybe Doug gave me a defective Pokédex. I walked back to where I started training, holding the PokéBall up to Kit as he clapped to me.

"Bravo, Jack! Bravo," he said with his sideways grin.

"Guess I don't have much more catching up to do, right?" I said confidently. He put a hand to my shoulder.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," he said with as much confidence. "We both still got a lot of ground to cover here."

I nodded a bit in agreement. "Heh, I suppose you're right."

"Come on," Kit said. "That's a good amount of training for today, I think."

"Yeah, I agree. Axel is pretty tired, too."

"That's right!" he said as if I made him remember something. "Your Pokémon could use some health."

I watched him carefully use his medicine on both Axel and Hatchet, even with Hatchet in her PokéBall. They were both fully healed when he was done.

"There you go, mate."

"Wow, thanks!"

"Any time."

We went back to the road where we found Marley. She watched as Chester played with a mid-sized, pink and yellow-ish Pokémon with hair that curved and curled cutely. Chester seemed more dynamic than the other, as the latter seemed quite shy.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Oh, that's an Audino!" she said. "You have no idea how long it took Chester just to get it to come out." The Audino didn't do much, but it seemed rather interested in Chester.

"You gonna catch it?" Kit asked. "It seems like it'd be happy with you."

"I might," she answered. "That's only if it wants to, though."

At that moment, Audino whispered something to Chester. When it was done, Chester came dashing over to Marley and tried to talk.

"Chip chip! Chip-o, Chip-a-monk!"

"Uh, what?" Marley asked to me.

"You got your answer," I simply replied. "Chester asked if Audino could come with us."

"Is that so?" Marley asked. "Audino want to come too?"

"Chip chip!" Marley turned to me and I just nodded.

"Alright then!" She got up and simply tossed a PokéBall at it, which almost immediately responded with a ding. Without even needing effort, she had successfully caught the Audino. She released the Pokémon from its ball and it seemed happier than ever.

"Hi, Fortune!" she said happily. Audino seemed pleased with its nickname. She turned to us. "What about you two? Did you make any new friends?"

Kit gave his standard grin as he tossed Scraggy's PokéBall up in the air. The stubby Pokémon landed feet first as the PokéBall went back into Kit's hands.

"Wow, nice!" she said. "Scraggy can get even stronger in battle because of their ability."

"Well, I didn't catch it for nuthin, y'know?"

"What about you, Jack? You catch anything?"

I thought about sending Hatchet out… but I chose not too.

"She's on a time-out," I replied.

"_Time-out!? What frickin planet am I on, anyway?! GET ME OUT OF HERE!" _I sighed. I gave in to Hatchet and let her out of the ball. She examined Marley thoroughly.

"_Well aren't you a popular one! You've got not one friend, but_ two! _OHHHH BOY!" _she squabbled with the best sarcasm a Pokémon could deliver.

To my friends' ears, they could only hear 'PIDOVE PID-PIDOVE, PIDOVE-PID PIDOOOOOOOVE!' They looked at me confused.

"She needs a little time."

"_Well, that'd be nice, but I'm on a time-_out_, stupid!" _she yelled. Marley was a bit weirded out and Fortune and Chester hid behind her ankles. Foantide was in his ball and Scraggy tried to go up to Pidove. Brave move, I'll admit. Even I don't want to be near her. I think Scraggy tried to talk to Hatchet, but she just flicked him away with her wing.

"_Don't even try, fool. One flap of my wings could knock out your entire species."_

I immediately summoned Hatchet back to its ball. There was an awkward silence, leaving me feeling rather embarrassed and ashamed.

"You've got quite a handful," Marley finally said.

"Yeah," I replied shortly as I walked away to the forest clearing.

(underline)

Marley was preparing chowder from some food we had bought in a market in Sunset Town. She kept a pot that surprisingly fit in her bag along with several Styrofoam bowls, plates, and plasticware. We sat in the clearing around a stump as Kit and all of our Pokémon minus Hatchet played around in the clearing. They got along really well. I sat there like a stump, _(pun intended) _still down, thanks to Hatchet. I don't understand why, though. I guess the reason why I'm gloomy is that I can communicate and get along with Pokémon so well and I thought I could befriend any of them… and the first Pokémon I catch hates me. It made me wonder: do Pokémon not like being with Trainers? But that couldn't make much since Axel seems fond of me, Scraggy and Foantide get along well with Kit, Chester's been with Marley his whole life, and then Fortune _wanted_ to be with Marley. This whole occasion with Hatchet is just a bit strange to me. Maybe I shouldn't have caught her…

"Cheer up, Jack," Marley said. I looked at her and she was smiling at me. I took Pidove's PokéBall off my belt and held it too my eyes.

"Marley, I'll be honest… should I keep Hatchet?" I asked, filling the question with thought and wonder.

Marley adjusted her bandanna as she thought. "I don't really think that's necessary. I mean, she doesn't even know you very well."

"That's reasonable… but if that's the case, then why did Axel trust me from the start? Hatchet doesn't even want a chance."

Marley simply smiled. "Just give her some time. I'm sure you can get along with her. After all, you can understand her perfectly. Good communication is the key for about anything."

I wanted to add that she wasn't impressed with my ability, but I let it go. Marley can make anyone feel better, and admittedly she did cheer me up a bit, but not enough to entirely lift my mood.

We all ate an impressive chowder, which also cheered me up a bit more. At that time, it was sunset. If we were still on the Sunset Peninsula, the sunset would shine into a breathtaking sky that looked like large embers stretching away from the sun with a glorious glow. Here, we were still close to the peninsula, but the sunset wasn't quite as impressive as those at home. We had mats to rest on, and we placed them in the middle of the clearing and lay on them, facing south where the sun had set.

We chatted like we always have as the sun slowly set, telling of our dreams for the future. We all had the same setting—meeting all the Pokémon in the world and traveling its four corners, but we each had unique goals as a Trainer. Kit had the dream of becoming the Champion and being the ancient Pokémon's guardian. Marley said she wanted to help any and every Pokémon in need on her travels.

What did I want to do? I wasn't sure. There's too much for me, too much to do in this world. It's like Kit said, we have all the time in the world. Why decide now?

The sky was getting darker, but for a reason other than the sun setting. Dark, towering clouds were approaching at a fast pace. We were in for a good sized storm.

"We need to set up the tent," I notified the others.

I had the tent in my bag. In the trees, there was a clearing wide enough to easily hold us while still being well covered. We found a nice, sturdy rock and used it as a hammer to set the pins for keeping the tent in place. I started to hear thunder in the distance, but it didn't add any worry, as it only took a few minutes to get the tent set up. It could hold all three of us inside, but that took up just about all of its room. Without any room for them, we called our Pokémon back to their PokéBalls and took cover inside, lying on our mats. I was on the left side (or the right from the inside view) and Marley was on the left with Kit in the middle. This was the first time we've camped out in a while, but this is the first time we ever used the tent. We just slept on the mats prior to this. Soon, thundering was heard directly over us. Relentless rain started pelting the tent. It unnerved me a bit, first time camping out in a storm, but I managed to sleep in little time.

x[]o

"…Jack."

…

"Jack."

…?

"Jack!"

…who is that calling me? I'm fast asleep, but I swear I can hear someone.

"Jack! Wake up!"

I know that voice.

I opened my eyes slowly and gazed at Marley, who was only halfway inside the tent. I don't know what time it is. It's still cloudy, but it's not that dark. I could tell how light it was outside from the tent and it seemed like the sun has been up a little bit.

"Hang on…" I said slowly. I gave a great yawn and sat up. My mind was almost completely back to me now. Marley looked… a bit worried.

"Mornin'," I finished drearily.

"Jack, Kit's gone," she said immediately. My mind didn't fully respond to that.

"Huh?"

"Kit's gone," she said, slower this time. I thought about it in my mind. Kit's… gone…!

"Whaddyou mean Kit's gone?" I asked.

"I mean he's not here anymore."

"Well… yeah, but where is he?"

"Jack, we don't have time for this!" Marley said angrily. "I don't know where Kit is; if I did, I wouldn't be telling you this!" She got out of the tent.

"Ah, hell…" I groaned to myself as I followed her. Everything around us was soaked. Marley tried to call Kit as loud as she possibly could.

"Kit! Kit! Where are you!"

"Did you call him?"

She glared at me. "Jack, _what do you think I'm doing!"_

"I meant on his Pokévice."

Her tone lightened. "Oh… um, no, I didn't even think of that…"

Marley rushed back into the tent and got her Pokévice from her bag. She must have him on speed-dial, since she only punched one number in before putting the phone to her ear. A few seconds went by as I patiently waited for a result.

"Not even voicemail…" she said, even more worriedly.

This is where I was officially freaking out. My heart raced as I checked back inside the tent.

"He has his Pokémon, too," I said after peering inside.

"I know," Marley replied. "Kiiiit!" she shouted. She cried out one last time, and with it, fell onto the ground and buried her head in her knees, crying. I came up to her and did my best to comfort her.

"Hey, hey," I said. "It'll be alright. It's okay."

"It's okay?!" she yelled at me. "How is this okay?! He's missing and we can't find him! This isn't okay!" She buried her face again.

"We'll find him," I said quietly to her. There wasn't anything else to say. I couldn't say anything anyway.

x[]o

We had continued on our route, only assuming that Kit was moving forward. Gloride City was still an hour or two away. We didn't say anything. We just walked along the road, minds without thoughts and mouths without words…

…Except for one thing. What on earth could've happened to him? Or did _nothing_ happen at all? I mean, it's pretty hard to assume that someone could've randomly kidnapped him in the night without waking either of us. So… does that mean he went off on his own…? But why would he do such a thing…?

I wonder if Marley was thinking the same thing… Best to just leave her out of this little theory for now. I actually feel bad for her more than I feel worried for Kit's safety. She loves Kit… at least as far as I'm concerned. Sure, she adores me as a person, but there's something about Kit that really lightens her spirit. I can't go far into detail, though, for I not only know little about whatever relationship they may have, but frankly it's none of my business.

And that's the only thing I could think of in the entire walk. We didn't hear or see anything for about 80 or 90 minutes, when finally, a shout from the trees called out to us:

"I know who you are!"

It was the voice of a kid. A young boy. He was probably 8, 9, maybe 10 years old.

"Don't you know me?!"

His voice was on the right. I turned that direction.

"Who are you?" I shouted.

"Oh, come on! You mean you don't remember me?!" the kid shouted.

"If you know us, then what are our names?" Marley shouted to him.

"Ah, figs…" we heard him say. We heard the trees rattle and shake, and a kid plopped out of one, landing face down on the soft earth. He hit the ground with an 'oof'.

"Ow…" he said. Marley and I jogged over to him.

"Are… you okay?" Marley asked. She helped the kid sit up. He wore a helmet and goggles like he was an aviator. He had a missing tooth in the middle of his top row of teeth. Both his shirt and shorts had a camouflage design.

"Ah… yeah," the kid struggled. "Thanks."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Oh yeah! I'm Mickey! Imma spyin'!" he said excitedly.

"Mickey, huh?" I repeated.

"So how come you said you knew us?" Marley asked.

"Aw, I was just tryin' ta scare ya!" Mickey replied. "I like scarin' all the other kids that come out to play here. They don' come out for a while, though. You ain't from Gloride City, are you?"

"Nope," I replied. "We're from Sunrise Town."

"Sunrise Town? I know that place! My daddy took me there when I was younger once. Whaddya doin' livin' in Sunrise Town for? There ain't nothin' there!"

"You'd be surprised," I said. I don't appreciate negativity towards my home.

"Where is your daddy, anyway?" Marley asked.

"Aw, he's at the gate to the city. He's the guard there! He never minds when I go out as long as I don't get into trouble. He knows I'm a big boy now."

"How old are you?" I asked. "You look rather young for traveling around."

"Aw, I ain't travelin'. I'm 9. I can't go out travelin' for another year, so I just scare the travelers around here."

Then I realized the important thing: Kit. This kid's gotta have seen him.

"Listen, Mickey," I said. "We're looking for a friend. Kit. He's about my height, blond hair my length, green jacket? He might have been walking with a Foantide or a Scraggy."

Mickey put a hand to his chin and looked up as I spoke. He thought for a moment.

"I might have," he said suggestively with a trickster's grin. "I'll tell ya, but only if you beat me at Pokémon!"

I wanted to be angry with him, but I couldn't. He's just a kid after all… "Mickey, come on, we don't have time for that. Just tell us and—"

"Ah-ah-ah!" he interjected, mockingly wagging his finger at me. "Only if ya beat me at Pokémon."

Now my anger was almost uncontrollable. "Look, Mickey," I nearly shouted as I got dangerously close to him, "this is serious! Our friend is missing and you're the only one who could possibly know where he is!"

"Jack—" Marley began, but Mickey spoke again.

"Aw, I'm sorry, guys. I didn't mean to make you mad… I'm sorry."

"It's okay," I said, cooling down, backing up a bit. "Just tell us where he is."

"No, I meant, I'm sorry for not knowing where you friend is…"

"Oh," I said, feeling down again. "…He didn't walk by?"

"You're the first I've seen today."

Marley and I looked at each other. Marley seemed desperate.

"Don't worry about it," I said. "We'll just look in Gloride City…"

"Hey, I can go with you if you want!" Mickey said.

"That's okay," I replied. "You don't have to."

"Naw, really! I want to go with you. You guys look like you need help, and I can get my dad to help you. After all, the only way in the city is through the gate, so my dad's bound to have seen him."

I guess there wasn't a reason to say no.

"Lead the way," I said.

-End of Entry-

_I wanted to upload this yesterday, but I also didn't want one of my cats taking a crap in my room at 2:30 a.m.  
I guess we both lose._

SPOILER ALERT, NEXT CHAPTER IS LONG.

…_If 16 pages is long to you (with my format anyway). But hey, you should've expected the story to be long. And now stuff is finally happening! 'Till next time, my friends._


	6. Gloride City and Fight Night TV

_Introducing the very first Dark-type Gym Leader! …He's also the weakest._

Pokémon Dark/Light  
Entry 6 :: Gloride City and Fight Night TV

"It's not really about winning or losing, it's about getting stronger and doing your best."

Mickey led us straight to the doorstep. The city gate was a silver building with a flat, black rooftop. Prior to arriving, Mickey told us all about himself. His dad, as he earlier said, is a day guard at the south entrance of Gloride City, the one we're entering. His mom works at a candy store, so this kid is basically hailed as a hero by other kids of his age. A lot of people in the city know him because of his dad's popularity. We talked about the gym as well. He actually knows the Gym Leader; he's also teacher at the Trainer's school. Mickey said that the gym is inconvenient, though. The leader is a teacher first, Gym Leader second. He'd prefer interacting with the students and their Pokémon than taking on challengers and says that the future depends on today's young Trainers.

We walked through the gate of Gloride City and were almost immediately greeted by a security guard sitting at the counter on the right. He had a sturdy build and was bald.

"Ah, Mickey!"

"Hi, daddy!"

"Who are these two?" he said, directing his attention to us.

"Oh, this is Jack and Marley," Mickey replied. "They're nice, and they need your help."

"Help?" He asked. "With what?"

"We're looking for someone," I spoke up. "His name's Kit Tyler. He's my height, has blond hair my length and he's got a green jacket."

Mickey's dad thought for a moment. "Sorry, I ain't seen him. Never walked by."

I did my best not to groan aloud. "You sure?" I persisted.

"Positive. I never forget a face."

My heart dropped to my stomach, but a thought quickly came to me. "Isn't there a night guard as well?"

"Yes, of course. His name's Rich, my brother, actually. He lives in the house closest to here. Just knock and tell him Rudy sent ya, and he'll help."

"Alright, we will. Thanks, Rudy!"

"Anytime." As we got to the other side, he called us again. "And hey! Hope you find your friend."

Saying that made me happy, actually. I smiled and said, "Thanks."

We walked into Gloride City. The roads were a bit wide and buildings were everywhere. Street lamps lined the sides of the roads. The town was active with people walking around, some having their Pokémon out.

"This town lights up at night," Mickey said. I forgot that he was with us, actually. "You should see it. Everything's all bright and pretty. Anyway, here's Uncle Rich's house. He's nice like my dad, so he'll help you out as well."

I knocked on the door. There was an uncomfortably long moment of silence. I was about to try again until I finally saw a man come to the door. It opened and he greeted us and Mickey. He looked a bit older than his brother, but was equally bald. He was in a pale blue robe.

"What brings you here at this hour, Mickey?"

"This is Jack and Marley. They need your help."

I told Rich about Kit. Fortunately, he had a different answer.

"That kid? Oh sure, I saw him walk by."

"You did?" I said, overjoyed. "W-When?"

"Oh, gosh, I dunno," Rich said. "It was close to the end of my shift, so maybe 5? 5:30?"

"He said he wanted to challenge the Gym, so he's gotta somewhere in the city," I said to Marley. She nodded in agreement. "Hey, thanks a lot, Rich, this means a lot."

"Oh, sure, anytime," he replied. "Good luck finding him."

"Thanks," I replied. "We'll be on our way. See ya!"

"You kids take care!"

At first, I thought of asking around for Kit, but thinking again, the city is pretty big, and there were a lot of people. Marley said she wanted to see the city and try to get more information, so she went off alone. After all, looking around in a place that you don't know won't get you anywhere. I stopped at the Pokémon Center close to the city entrance to get my Pokémon healed. It was actually a bit frightening there, as she was identical to the nurse in Sunset Town with a matching personality. Weird…

I stepped outside and immediately saw a group of people walking down the road together, all wearing the same thing. They wore white shirts, white bandannas, and white pants. Both the bandannas and shirts had the same logo on it: a red, unique 'R'. The R was all red and was circled by a red outline of the same shape. Their pants had red lining on them. These guys acted like the rulers of the world, the way they thought they were.

"Get away!"

"Come on, move!"

"Make way, people! We don't want any of your stupid Pokémon."

Who were these guys? There were 8 of them, all in rows of two. The two in front both had Stoutland on leashes, growling and sneering at the crowd menacingly. People were murmuring as they slowly walked by. Who were these guys, anyway, thinking they owned the place? When they were away, the townsfolk talked in a normal voice.

"Those guys are nothing but trouble."

"Who do they think they are, anyway?"

"Them being here means bad news for all of us…"

I wanted to ask who they even were, but the crowd dispersed before I could speak up. I decided to leave them alone.

I explored Gloride City a bit and stumbled upon a building that caught my interest, thanks to the sign up front.

'Are you a traveling Trainer? Gloride City is a great place to start! Are you traveling for the ULTIMATE GOAL? In this building, you can find the key to your adventure! We don't care if you stink as a Pokémon trainer, everyone is good at something. Talk to the man inside and he'll help you on your journey.'

I didn't know what to make of this. I just walked inside. Before I even got a clear picture of the building, someone had already greeted me.

"Welcome, sonny boy! Come, come! Sit!"

I slowly walked in and closed the door behind me. The room had no lights. Only the window lit it up. There was almost nothing in the room, just a table the man (sharply dressed, at that) sat behind on a cushion, and another cushion, apparently for me. I took my seat.

"So," he said. "What do you wanna do on your journey?"

"Oh, uh," I began suddenly. I cleared my throat. "I guess I want to become the Champion."

"Champion, huh? Well, son, I gotta tell you that you're not alone. In fact, that's pretty much all anyone's told me they want to be. The Champion. Who doesn't want to be the Champion? You're gonna want this, though. You'll need it. Trust me." He slid a small, thick card. There were 8 openings on it. "That's a badge case. And you'll need this along the way as well." He slid a pale, pink PokéBall to me.

"Thanks," I said. "But what—"

"Good day!"

The man disappeared out of thin air with a 'pop,' leaving me alone to an eerie emptiness. I placed the pink ball into one of my bag's pockets. I left the building and walked around some more until I came across the Trainer's School. Mickey was outside.

"Hi, Jack!" he said happily.

"Hey, Mickey," I replied.

"Hey, come inside, there's someone you should meet."

He opened the door and led me inside to a room filled with a few rows of long tables on each side. They were all empty. At the head of the room in front of a wide whiteboard was a desk with a young man already sitting there. The man had mid-length black hair, blue shirt with a black vest. He wore black pants with flames at the ankles. He had a piercing on the left edge of his bottom lip and didn't seem very old, probably in his early 20's. He seemed busy at work.

"Hey, Joshua!" Mickey said.

The young man looked up at us and smiled.

"I had a feeling you'd be here today, Mickey," he said.

"Aw, why are you working, Joshua?" Mickey said in a bit of a whine. "You know it's summer, right? School's out!"

Joshua laughed a bit. "Of course I know it's summer! I'm just drawing. I'd do it at home, but I like it in here."

"Hey, cool! And this is Jack! You might want to know him."

Joshua got up and shook my hand. "Hey, man," he said. "How's it goin'?"

"Alright," I said, shaking his hand. "You?"

"I'm good, I'm good. Anyway, what's up?"

"Jack wants to challenge your Gym! He says he's real good at Pokémon!"

"Is that so? Well, you've come at the right time, actually. My only free night for a fight this week is tonight. But, any friend of Mickey's is a friend of mine. He's my favorite student," he said as he brushed Mickey's head.

I got excited. "Really? I can challenge you tonight? On TV?"

Joshua nodded his head. "Yep. I can get the camera crew ready by tonight, and we can film the battle at midnight."

"Wow, thanks a lot!" I said. The foundation of my adventure was laid out. "I'll do it!"

"Great!" Joshua said. "Make sure you get to the TV station early. Like around 10 or so. But since it's 10 in the morning now, you don't have to worry about time, really. I'll go over to the station now and get everything and everyone ready."

"You're the best, man," I said.

"Don't let me down out there!"

x[]o

I was feeling unusually tired, so I slept in the Pokémon Center (all Pokémon Centers are like hotels). There was a TV in my room. I flipped it to Channel 5, the battle channel. Fight Night TV airs on here. I heard on a commercial about the show Gym Challenge airing live tonight at midnight. That's when I realized that I was really, really nervous about this.

Live TV? Not only is this my first Gym challenge, it's also my first TV appearance, and it's live. And Gym Challenge is one of their most popular shows, especially since it's not something that airs everyday, or even on an orderly schedule. What I'm saying is that a _lot _of people are going to watch. What if I fail? I wouldn't know what to do…

I reached on the nightstand beside the bed and grabbed Hatchet's PokéBall. I released Pidove from it and got the expected onslaught of complaints.

"_Hey! Who do you think you are, letting me out whenever you feel like it! I was sleeping, you know! And not only that, but I was having a damn good dream! Can you do anything that doesn't piss me off?"_

"Alright, look," I growled. I was losing my patience with her. "Do you want to fight or not?"

Pidove turned her head to the side. _"Hmph." _she said in a sassy manner. _"I can fight whenever I feel like it. Or at least—I COULD."_

"Look, I'm challenging a Gym Leader tonight on TV, and—"

"_Oh, on the idiot box, you say? I guess the media loves idiots like you—"_

"—and I need your help." Hatchet turned back to me.

"_Well, well, well," _she said. _"Look what we have here. The Trainer in need of my help! How shocking. I was right! You only got me because I'm one of the best out here! You got me so _you_ could get stronger!"_

"…What? No! I—"

"_Let me tell you something, 'Jack.' I'm not your battle pawn. I got strong on my own just fine, and you're wrong if you think you can use that to your advantage._

"Hatchet—"

"_Stop calling me Hatchet you ignorant, insignificant idiot! If you want to be strong, why don't you man up and then fight Pokémon on your own! If you need me, I'll be in my prison."_

"Your prison? What do you—"

"_Nope, shut up!"_ Pidove shouted as she submitted herself into the capsule. It closed on its own and just sat there, completely still.

x[]o

9:30 at night. I met Marley outside of the city's apartment complexes. She came over, carrying Chester.

Gloride City was different at night. All of the buildings were outlined with a neon blue, along with the streetlamps and even the roads' outline. It looked like one big party room.

"Hey, Jack!" Marley said. "You alright?"

"Not really," I said. "I'm a wreck. I'm feeling nervous and depressed and helpless. I'm about to challenge Joshua, the Gym Leader on TV, but I'm going to get killed. I heard that Joshua has 3 Pokémon. Axel has gotten strong, but him fighting 3 Pokémon from a Trainer with a good amount of experience would never go my way. And Hatchet will refuse to cooperate, and I don't know what to do about it…" I was talking really fast. I'm amazed Marley could make out all of that.

"You'll be fine," Marley said. "Really. You'll do great. It's not really about winning or losing, it's about getting stronger and doing your best."

"Yeah…" I said. "But still, I'm not confident. Maybe if Kit was here, he'd know what to say—"

"Jack," Marley said slowly. "You'll be fine."

I sighed, but I managed to truly smile. "Thanks, Marley."

We entered the station together and checked in at the counter. A guard was escorted me to a waiting room or something while Marley was being redirected elsewhere. I waited for about 10 minutes alone in silence on a bench attached to the wall, then Joshua came into the room. I thought that I wasn't gonna see him until the match started, so I was a bit surprised to see him now.

"Hey, kid," he said as he closed the door. "How are you feeling."

"Horrible," I groaned. I felt humiliated just being here. Joshua came up to me and crouched down so that he was just about eye level with me.

"Don't be so nervous," he said. He spoke softly and gently. "Just relax, trust in your Pokémon, and the sky is the limit from there."

"I know, I know," I said. "I've just got one Pokémon, though. Well, I have another, but it despises me and it's gotten me down, and then I've got a missing friend and I've never done any of this before." I was talking fast again.

"Whoa, easy. You'll have a panic attack or something if you keep stressing yourself. Most Trainers that come out to the field to battle me, they've never done it either, and yet I've seen outstanding results from a lot of them, win or lose. Just go with what you've got and make the best out of it."

I didn't respond. I let the words seep into my mind.

"Deep breath," he said. Inhale, exhale. It was probably the deepest breath I've ever taken. "Good. Just relax. If you want, talk to your Pokémon. No one's watching. In about 10 or 15 minutes, someone will come by to fix you up, and then some, uh, preliminary stuff."

"Preliminary stuff?" I repeated. I didn't understand that.

"Yeah, nothing major. You'll be requested to say some stuff about yourself. You're my co-host tonight, man, people are interested in you."

This did not help in the slightest. My stage fright (or whatever you wanna call it) skyrocketed and I gulped.

"Thanks, Joshua," I said nervously. "I'll try to not let you down."

"Now that's the spirit," he said, patting me on the shoulder. "The next time you'll see me is on the field."

He stood up straight and exited the waiting room, leaving me alone with my Pokémon. I rested my head against the wall and took another deep breath. I closed my eyes, and without consciously doing it, I took Axel's PokéBall and released him.

"Hey, Axel." Pyrote gave its cry with happiness. "How you feeling?"

He said he was feeling confident. It half made me feel better.

"Axel, I'm sorry if I'm asking too much, but I'm relying on every ounce of your strength. This is a big one. You think you can handle it?"

"_Don't worry, Jack! If I didn't think I could handle it, we wouldn't be here."_

"Alright, buddy. I'm counting on you," I said. We fist pounded, and then I summoned him back into the PokéBall. It made me feel glad that everyone was supporting me. My Pokévice rang and I checked it—my mom. I answered it.

"Hey, mom!" I said happily.

"Hi, honey! I heard from Marley that you're challenging the Gym on TV, so I wanted to call you and see how you were feeling."

"Well, I'm feeling better now. Things weren't so good earlier."

"Yeah…" Mom said. "I heard that Kit's missing. His mother is terrified. He hasn't called anybody recently."

"I bet she is. Me and Marley are pretty scared too… We were even with him. We just woke up and he was gone."

"Well honey, I know it's bad, but don't think about it now. Just concentrate on your objective, and you'll be fine."

"Thanks, Mom. I'm glad you called."

"Anytime, honey. You go and have fun!"

She hung up the Pokévice. Not even a minute later, Doug called me. Since Marley told my mom, I figured she'd tell the Professor as well.

"Hey, Doug," I said.

"Jack! You're gonna be on TV! That's great!"

"I know!" I exclaimed. "Everyone seems to be happy for me. I actually feel pretty good now. Everyone's making me feel better."

"Good! That's good! You should feel good! Just keep thinking positive and everything will go well," he said.

"Thanks a lot!" I said.

"Anytime. I'll let you go, since you must be busy getting ready. I'll be watching you on TV!"

"Thanks again, Doug. I'll see you around."

"Good luck and have fun with it!"

He hung up his line. Everyone seemed to say the same things to me, but it was okay. Now that I know that I've got faithful supporters, I feel much better and more confident. What pleased me a bit was that Doug didn't even mention that Kit's missing. He probably wanted the thought to stay out for now.

About 10 minutes later, a woman came in and I was led to some room where they brushed me up and groomed me a bit. They made my hair look better than ever and put a little makeup on my face to cover up some blemishes. They made sure I was ready to make my 'appearance.'

I was in the room for possible a half hour. I was then led down to ground level, seemingly at the edge of the building. They led me to a chair by an empty corner (actually kind of creepy when you think about it). A loud man holding a clipboard started giving me directions.

"Only 11 o'clock. You make good time, kid." He was almost shouting, despite the fact that he was a couple feet away and there was little to no noise around us. "We're just gonna ask some basic stuff about you. Joshy told you that, I reckon."

It really _was _some basic stuff, and to my fortune, the loud guy wasn't the one asking. My name, my home, dreams for the future, past achievements, blah blah blah. I did my best to tone down my nervousness as I casually answered. Hopefully it wasn't too noticeable.

"Great, kid, great," the clipboard guy said. "The show don't start 'till midnight, so sit tight until we're ready to start."

So I'm expected to sit here for the next 45 minutes with a bunch of people I don't know? I asked someone if I could go back upstairs into that waiting room, but everyone just kept saying 'ask that guy, he should know.' This went on several times, which eventually made me too frustrated. At this point, I wanted to leave rather than wait, but it's far too late to contemplate that.

I sat back down in the corner and figured Axel would be good company. But immediately when I took him out…

"Hey kid, Pokémon's gotta go," the clipboard guy said from across the room, interrupting whatever conversation he was having.

"But he's not doing anything…" I said. Seriously, all I wanted to do was talk to my Pokémon.

"Strict policy in here, kid. No Pokémon allowed while we work."

I find it 'strictly' ironic, considering this is a Pokémon Gym. I apologized to my saddened Pyrote as I returned him, leaving me alone again. From that point on, I twiddled my thumbs, tinkered with the Pokévice, and wrote in my journal about today, seeing as I had nothing else to do.

At a few minutes before midnight, I was finally led to the double doors at the edge of the room, probably the way into the stadium. I talked to a pretty cool producer guy that had enough interests to have a good conversation with every person on the planet. Behind me was a man with a cap that was brushing off his big camera. And on the other side of the doors… cheering. A lot of cheering.

Now, live TV can unnerve anyone for their first time. If you mess up, the world indirectly sees it. But here, hundreds of people will _directly _see it. Fantastic. Of course, this was no surprise to hear; as I waited in the corner, I could here a crescendo of people like a great big wave, and now it was ready to crash down.

I was at the doors for a while. I checked my Pokévice for the time. 11:59. Here we go. The show had now started. I was slowly jogging in pace from anxiety.

"You're not going live immediately, so no need to worry," the producer said.

"Why's that?"

"Whaddyou think that interview was for?"

There was a TV that was showing beside us, far away from the camera's line of sight. A speaker was heard on it.

"Welcome, viewers, to Fight Night TV! I'm Bob Casper with Kipp Dowell, and we are live from Gloride City with the Gym Challenge! This is where a Trainer's goal of becoming the Champion starts, right here in Fight Night's studio. Countless Trainers have fought long and hard in this stadium (the TV was flashing various shots of unfamiliar Trainers. The pictures were split in half, one side showing them fighting, and the other receiving a Gym Badge from Joshua. It makes me wonder how long he's been doing this), but not everyone has been victorious. Win or lose, a Trainer's adventure truly begins here. Tonight, our newest challenger is…"

I suddenly appeared on screen. "My name's Jack Dawn—I'm 15 years old—From Sunrise Town—My goal is to travel the world with my friends after becoming Champion—don't have many past achievements to be honest (well that's certainly embarrassing to admit)—I'm definitely nervous about being here, but I'm dead set on winning tonight."

The clip was cut multiple times in order to remove the interviewer. It made my nervous fast-talking sound even faster. I hardly even remember what was said, and I was the one who said it! The TV then showed two men overlooking the stadium, apparently Bob and Kipp.

"Certainly a young man with ambition, Bob. I sure hope he does well tonight." Thanks, Kipp.

"I as well, Kipp. Now let's get down to the stadium, where our challenger should be coming out now!"

I heard the stadium announcer echo his voice for the whole stadium to hear.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Fight Night TV welcomes our challenger! Age 15 and coming from the small, cozy, and nearby Sunrise Town: Jack Dawn!"

"Go, go!" the cameraman motioned. I opened the doors to the wide open stadium. I didn't really know what to do, so I ran to my spot on the field. The battlefield was made of dirt and was designed exactly like an official field. Two jumbotrons stood at the ends of the stadium. The starry sky of the city sparkled down on the dirt and the spectators surrounded the field in the stands, cheering. Cheering for me! I didn't really know what to do, so I removed my cap with my right hand and held it up high as a sort of greet to the city. I put my hand back down to my side after a moment, but didn't put my cap back on.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, age 23, born in the northbound Ashton Town, the host of our event, and Gym Leader of Gloride City, please welcome our very own: Joshua Pecken!" The announcer dragged his name on for ages.

The stadium erupted with applause as I saw Joshua walk out of his doors and onto the field. He walked as he waved casually to his very own city. He took his place on the opposite end of the field and motioned to the crowd to settle them down. I put my hat back on, but backwards instead of frontward.

"Look at you, Jack!" he shouted to me. "I'm glad you could make it. Isn't this city wonderful? I love the excitement everyone brings when I introduce a new challenger. If you win, they'll be delighted and you'll be their icon. But if you lose…" He waved a finger.

"I don't wanna hear this 'if you lose,' man. I'm telling you I'm going to win."

"That's the spirit! Now, let's begin!"

Joshua pointed to a referee as a signal. The ref stood on a small platform on my right side of the field, directly facing the midpoint. He pointed two flags at his sides, a red and a green, red being on Joshua's side, the ref's right, and to his left, the green flag for me. He had them spread out.

"This battle is of Sunrise Town's Jack Dawn challenging the Gloride City Gym Leader, Joshua Pecken. There are no restrictions on the amount of Pokémon. Switching Pokémon and the use items are forbidden for this battle. Trainers, choose your first Pokémon."

"Purrloin!" Joshua declared. "Go!" He tossed a PokéBall up to the sky and the pre-evolved Liepard came down. Seeing as I didn't have a choice, I took Axel's ball and tossed it up.

"Go, Axel!" Pyrote shot out of the ball and onto the field with ease. I caught his discarded ball.

The announcer spoke again. "The first matchup is Joshua's Purrloin versus Jack's Pyrote. Let the gym challenge… begin!"

I rushed myself and took the lead. "Alright, Axel, use Tackle and Ember!"

Axel took off at full speed to Purrloin. As he dashed, he shot out several flames to the Dark-type cat.

"Purrloin, use Growl!"

Before the embers had a chance to reach him, Purrloin stayed put and made a sharp growl at Axel as a way of softening his damage.

"Now dodge that, Purrloin, and use Sand Attack!"

Purrloin got out of Axel's line of fire. When Axel got close, he turned around and quickly flapped up sand by kicking the ground. I commanded Axel to dodge. Axel successfully dodged by quickly rolling away from the thick dust clouds, but it was too close for comfort. The crowd was cheering.

"Purrloin, use Assist!"

"Axel, Smokescreen!"

Purrloin charged to Axel with his mouth ajar, likely readying a Bite attack. He was about to hit Axel head-on, but Axel was smart. He shot out of Purrloin's way and then engulfed him with a cloud of black smoke. A perfect attack. Purrloin was lost inside the cloud.

"Alright, Axel! The best Ember you could give!"

My Pyrote shot as many flames inside the cloud as he could. Pyrote could see Purrloin from outside of the cloud and he shot him down with ease. Both Joshua and I were silent until the smoke had dissipated—revealing Purrloin to be wiped out.

"Purrloin is unable to battle," the announcer… announced. "Pyrote is the winner!"

The crowd cheered. Well, half cheered. I definitely heard boos from the stadium. Oh well, they don't matter to me. Axel dashed over me, proud of his victory.

"Yeah, dude! High five!" I said, crouched down. Pyrote slapped my hand happily.

"Well done, Jack! Well done!" Joshua called from the other side. "That was an excellent move. But can you keep up with this…?"

He tossed a second PokéBall up high. Down came a small Crocodile-like Pokémon—Sandile. This could be a problem because Sandile were of the Ground-type, a double weakness for Pyrote.

"Alright, Axel," I said to Pyrote. "Don't take this one lightly. This one is a lot tougher than the last."

Pyrote gave a carefree nod. The match began with Joshua's command to his Sandile—an attack called Sand Tomb. This is devastating, should it hit Axel. I told Axel to run as fast as he could with Tackle. Sandile's attack created a sinking crack in the field, like sand flowing downward. It chased Axel viciously, trying to trap him in the flowing sand. Axel did well to move around it and not let it catch up. Joshua knew this plan was futile.

"Alright, Sandile, let's try Dark Pulse!"

Sandile broke contact with the Sand Tomb and created a beam-like attack. _(I really wonder why they made a move called Dark Pulse a beam.) _I tried to have Pyrote dodge it, but it was too late. The beam made solid contact and sent Axel rolling. A massive hit. Axel still managed to get back up.

"Good job staying up, Axel, now use Smokescreen!"

"Sandile, ROAR!" Joshua shouted quickly.

Sandile made a deafening roar directly at Pyrote before he could fire the Smokescreen. This roar was so brutal that Pyrote summoned himself back inside his PokéBall. The crowd went wild, with many 'Awww!'s of shock and excitement.

"Uh… what was that?" I said to myself. "Come on, Pyrote, get back out here!" I picked his PokéBall back from my belt, but Joshua stopped me.

"You can't do that, Jack," Joshua called. "That's the whole point of the move."

This was not good. I remember now what Roar did. If you have more than one Pokémon, then Roar usually sends the active Pokémon back to its Trainer, making the Trainer summon another Pokémon. And for me, the other Pokémon is Pidove…

I sighed heavily as I collected Hatchet's PokéBall. I stared at it, and against my will, called Hatchet out. Once again, she wasn't happy to see me.

"_Let's all ignore the bird! Let every single Trainer ignore their own Pokémon! I told you I wasn't battling."_

"Sorry, Pidove. I was forced to."

"_Ha! Doesn't surprise me, with that weak little Fire-type. It serves you right." _

"Am I interrupting?" Joshua said deviously. "Use Bite, Sandile!"

This caught both me and Hatchet off-guard. "_YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS_."

"Look, Pidove, I'm really sorry. If you help me just this once, I promise on mine and Pyrote's life that I'll take you back to your home personally."

"_Yeah, some choice I really have_," she complained as she jumped away from Sandile. At least we were finally in agreement.

"Thanks, Pidove. Use Gust!"

"Bite again, Sandile!"

Sandile began to charge at Pidove again, but she created a whirlwind that kept him at bay, even pushing him back a bit. A good counter, but it wasn't getting us anywhere.

"Pidove, get out of there and use Quick Attack!"

"Keep using Bite, Sandile."

Pidove stopped her Gust attack and started charging at unmatched speed. Pidove stuck her head out, wings to her sides.

"Stop, Sandile, and use Dark Pulse instead!"

Uh-oh. That frickin' beam again. Pidove was too close to dodge in time. It made solid contact and, like Axel, sent her rolling away. Cheering commenced.

"Now use Roar!"

Sandile gave his frightening roar again, sending Pidove back to her capsule. Again with that move… I took the other PokéBall and summoned Axel again. We still kept pace.

"Now, Sandile, use Bite!"

Sandile came charging at us again. I told Axel to use Tackle. The two charged at full speed. Right before they made contact, I had Pyrote use Rock Bomb. He threw the explosive at breakneck speed, directly into Sandile's mouth, still hanging ajar. This was a critical hit on Sandile. Even for a Ground-type, that was massive. Cheering commenced again, but for me this time.

"Now, Pyrote, use Tackle!"

Pyrote charged at the Sandile, still a bit stunned from the previous attack, maybe a flinch. Joshua called for a Bite, but Sandile could hardly even move. Pyrote slammed right into him.

"Nice, Axel! Nice! Get him again!"

"Come on, Sandile! Sand Tomb!"

And now things stopped going my way. Sandile cleverly managed to catch Pyrote in the crevasse. When he did, a pool of the flowing sand opened up, trapping Pyrote.

"Finish him, Sandile! Dark Pulse!"

"Don't give up, Axel! Ember!"

Axel fired out burning flames to counter the Dark Pulse, but he was noticeably weaker than normal, thanks to Sand Tomb. Sandile and Axel kept firing, with the former slowly covering more distance than the latter. However, as the beam came mere inches from Axel, he started to glow with a burning aura. The Sand Tomb, hurting him with each passing second, had apparently damaged him to the point where his Blaze ability triggered. Kit told me about our his Foantide and Marley's Chipmonk having this sort of thing along with Axel, but this is the first time I've seen it.

The tide had turned into our favor again, as Axel's rejuvenated strength began to push the Dark Pulse back. Sandile noticed this and began to expend more power, which encouraged Axel to do the same. The attacks became increasingly forceful, with no apparent end to the struggle until the collision of power broke both attacks with an explosion engulfing the two. I was worried, as Axel could still be trapped in that Sand Tomb, but unable to do anything, stranded until he fainted… Joshua seemed equally worried, but the only thing we could both do was wait…

The smoke had cleared. The dust had settled. When I got my visibility back, I could see Sandile clearly, but couldn't see Pyrote in the Sand Tomb… instead was a different Pokémon outside of the pit. It was easily recognizable as Pyrote, but his size and bulk had grown quite a bit. Even the rocks jammed in his body were noticeably larger. Speaking of rocks, they were plastered all around his furry body, where he normally had them in his back, and one had strangely replaced his left eye. And I knew what had happened in that explosion; it was something I expected to see at some point, but definitely not tonight: Axel had gained enough strength through that struggle to level up.

"Axel…" I said softly, so wondrously proud of him at that moment. I saw my strengthened Pyrote—or whatever he was now—give a tough nod of confidence. He was ready to finish the round.

"Alright, Axel!" I shouted, more confident than ever. "Let's get him with Rock Bomb!"

Axel looked at me again and shook his head. I was confused and admittedly worried, thinking he suddenly stopped obeying me, but he instead used a move I've never seen him perform before. The rocks in his front shot out with a bright light. I knew what he was trying to do, he was telling me that he replaced his Rock Bomb with… something else. Now that I think about it, I'm not that happy that I don't even know what my Pokémon is or what it does… but I can worry about it when I finish kicking Joshua's butt.

Speaking of that, the rock projectiles fired from Axel were more forceful than ever, though they didn't explode. The strengthened attack coming from a strengthened Pokémon was too much for Sandile to handle. He was finally knocked out.

"Sandile is unable to battle," the announcer said, holding up my flag high. "Pyrate is the winner!"

Pyrate. That's what he was now. He did kinda look like an actual pirate with that rock eyepatch thing. Upon hearing the announcer, there was more cheering this time around. Axel had successfully managed to take out his equal as well as the opener, thanks to his surprise evolution. I had never been more proud of him. He ran to me, but he was rather slow. He was clearly exhausted.

"Pyrate, you are fantastic," I said. "Truly. He's still got another Pokémon, but just do what you can. Okay? Great, great job today. And congrats on your evolution."

I ruffled his head. Axel had never looked happier. He returned to his place on the field.

"Well done, Jack, well done," Joshua called. "You've definitely taken me by surprise and impressed me. You've got one tough cookie."

"I do what I can," I called. "Thanks, Joshua!"

"Whether you win or lose, you've earned my respect as a Trainer," Joshua said again. "This is my last and strongest Pokémon." He tossed the last PokéBall up. With confidence he shouted, "go, Umbreon!"

The Pokémon descended and landed on the dirt on all fours. On TV, I had once seen an Umbreon before, but this Umbreon was… different. An Umbreon is normally black with yellow stripes on its tail and ears. On its forehead and on all four legs, it had yellow rings. This Umbreon, however, was a lighter shade, more like a dark grey with had blue stripes and rings instead of yellow. His blue colors were beautiful and impressive. I had heard of different colored Pokémon, but never seen one in actuality. This must be the 'special kind' that Marley mentioned on Route 59.

"Let's begin! Umbreon, Shadow Ball!"

"Axel, dodge!"

Axel moved like a turtle to dodge the dark sphere that bolted towards it. It was a close call. Axel has almost no strength left.

"Pyrate, use Tackle!"

"Umbreon, Dark Pulse!"

"Oh come on!" I said out loud. Pyrate used his last strength to dash toward the Umbreon. Even though he struggled to speed up, he was still quite faster than his previous form. Umbreon tried to chase him with Dark Pulse, but Pyrate was quick enough to make an attack on his right side. Umbreon struggled to stay up and canceled his Dark Pulse, but only momentarily. Before he even fully regained his ground, he re-fired the beam at Axel, knocking him away. Pyrate had fainted.

The announcer held the red flag up. "Pyrate is unable to battle. The winner is Umbreon!"

I heard Joshua's devoted fans cheer again. I sighed, but it entirely was okay for me. Axel pushed himself beyond his limit for this battle. For _me. _I was a proud Trainer.

"You rest up now," I said to Axel after I drew him back in his ball. He was far off, but these things have a hell of a range, apparently. "You've more than earned it. Thank you so much, Axel."

I took my one and only remaining PokéBall and threw it, releasing Pidove from the capsule.

Pidove, for once, didn't complain that I sent her out. She didn't say anything at all.

"Okay, Pidove. This is up to you. Just do what you can."

Pidove turned her head so she could see me, but didn't say anything. She gave a flick her left wing, as if she was brushing something away in the air. This was an unusual way of acting for her, but I didn't have time to ask.

"Alright, let's use Quick Attack!"

Pidove took off at full speed to the oddly-colored Umbreon. Joshua ordered Dark Pulse, but Pidove was smart. She jumped and flew around the attack. Umbreon tried to take her down by controlling the beam around, but couldn't shake her off. It wasn't long until Pidove made solid contact with the Umbreon's side.

"Nice, Pidove! Nice!" I shouted as I saw Umbreon roll from the hit. "Now, quickly, use Gust!"

Pidove flapped up a whirlwind. Umbreon's next order was another Dark Pulse. Without needing to get up, he shot out the black beam again. It took all of her might, but her whirlwind was actually stronger! Hatchet's Gust kept pushing back the Dark Pulse as it spiraled to Umbreon, and ended up making not one, but two direct hits in one move. Umbreon couldn't fall as he was already on the ground, but it did knock him away a bit. I think Joshua wanted to say something, but I didn't hear him say a word to me.

"Pidove, use Quick Attack!"

Umbreon lay on the ground. He had the strength to fight; Joshua and I both knew it. Joshua seemed to be waiting for something…

"Umbreon, Tail Whip, NOW!"

_Right _as Pidove was about to land another consecutive attack, Umbreon whacked her, as hard as he could, with his tail. It was like a game of baseball and he scored an RBI. Hatchet rolled once before landing back on her feet, talons grinding the dirt below. Umbreon kept up with her and wasn't giving up.

"Now, use Sand Attack!" Joshua yelled.

Umbreon kicked the ground fast and whipped up a cloud of sand, blinding my Pidove. She tried to clear her face from the sand, but Umbreon had already started its next move—Shadow Ball again. Shadow Ball is a Ghost move, and you're probably thinking that it couldn't affect a Normal-type Pokémon… well it didn't. However, the force from the attack was enough to knock her away. Before she even stopped tumbling after the hit, Umbreon used Dark Pulse. All four of its moves were cleared instantly in one vicious combo. Pidove ended up crashing into the wall.

Pidove had stood upright again. She was standing by the stands on the left. There was a mixture of fans cheering for me, trying to build Pidove's confidence back. The other part of the mix was of those that were rooting for Joshua's side, sending sarcastic remarks. Pidove cleared her face and let everything away as she cleared her head. She looked directly ahead at the opposing Umbreon, taking surveillance on it. He brushed the ground lightly with his front right paw.

I thought for a moment. Both Pokémon were weakened greatly by this point. Neither could endure much more. I thought of everyone's words, with them saying that even if things go wrong and you've hit the wall, the best part is being there. …That's what Pidove has done. Hit the wall. I used that wall to my advantage.

"Pidove, bounce off the wall and use Quick Attack," I called. Pidove jumped and planted her feet against the wall before taking off even faster than her maximum speed toward Umbreon. Joshua's Umbreon was about to use the Tail Whip method again, but I had Pidove move around him while keeping her pace; she rose just barely above Umbreon. I ordered a Sand Attack. Pidove seemed to have read my mind, because the move was exactly as I had envisioned it. Pidove summoned up a large sand cloud while she still kept flying around. The next move was Gust, and I told her to land. As she landed, she whipped up a whirlwind in time to catch the sand cloud and suck it into the vortex, creating a sandstorm-like attack. The twister captured Umbreon, blinding and attacking him at the same time. There was no escape.

"Now, Pidove! Finish it with Quick Attack!"

Pidove rushed over to Umbreon and charged into him. The force knocked Umbreon away from the twister and even negated the attack. Umbreon was beat up by it. He went a couple of feet in the air, bounced off the ground, rolled once, and then landed on its left side back by the wall where Pidove started, unable to get up. Pidove flapped over to her fallen opponent and stared. For the last time, I heard the announcer.

"Umbreon is unable to battle. Pidove is the winner! The Gym Leader Joshua is now out of usable Pokémon. The winner is—the challenger, Jack Dawn!"

The stadium erupted with applause. Some even stood and cheered for me. Pidove flew back over to my feet. I looked down just in time to see her look away.

"Pidove," I said to it slowly. She looked back at me. "Thank you. You did great."

Pidove looked away again before I had her retreat, but I swear that I saw her smile for a minute. Next thing I knew, cameras and reporters were gathering around me.

"Jack! Jack!" One male reporter shoved a microphone to me. "Jack, this is your first Gym challenge and you won! How do you feel?"

I scratched my head through my hat. "I dunno, honestly," I said. "I feel… overwhelmed. But mostly, I feel happy and proud!"

Another reporter questioned me. "What was it like during the battle? Did you feel nervous and improvise it?"

"A bit. I went with a bit of strategizing and made the best of what we had, and it wasn't until Axel evolved that I needed to draw an entirely new line. But it was my Pokémon who directed everything."

I heard Joshua through the crowd of reporters and cameramen. "Jack! Come with me, there's one last thing."

He separated me from the crown _(REALLY? REALLY, LUX? HOW DID YOU MIX UP CROWD WITH CROWN.) _ and led me to the PokéBall design in the middle of the field. We stood across from each other along its center.

"Jack," Joshua said calmly. He had a microphone so the stadium could hear. Up on the stadium's bigscreens, we were both seen. "In honor of your perseverance, determination, and the trust you've built in your Pokémon to gain victory in this battle, I present to you this official badge of the Pokémon League in Falloh, (he held a small badge in his fingertips) the Lunar Badge," he placed it in the palm of my hand, "symbol that you have defeated me."

I heard the crowd cheer once again. A photographer quickly ordered for a picture, likely for the montage at the beginning of the show. I did my best not to look overly-excited, but I probably failed.

"Also, here," he said, snapping his finger at one man who gave him a CD. He handed the CD to me. "A gift from me to you."

The disc was completely black. I had no idea what it was.

"You look like you've never seen that before. That's a Technical Machine—or TM for short. TM79—It teaches the move Dark Pulse to any Pokémon that can learn it. Any TM can be learned as many times as you'd like as well, so feel free to use it as many times as you like."

"Hey, man, thanks a lot," I said gratefully.

"Nah. Thank _you._ That was a great battle and I'm proud of you. You're a good Trainer, Jack. And this last thing," he reached in his pocket and pulled out 13 Pokédollars. _(The way I put it, 13 would be like 1300 in the game.)_ "Prize money. It's tradition in Pokémon Battles that the winner is awarded with money."

I took the money and thanked him yet again. We gave each other a friendly hug and said our farewells. I managed to find my way out of the stadium. Close to the entrance, I got a text message from Doug:

"Hey, I saw you on TV! Dude, you were fantastic out there. You really got me going at some times. Already, I see a strong Trainer. Keep at it!"

Marley was already in front of the station. She noticed me as I walked out.

"Jack!" she exclaimed, as she ran up to hug me. "Jack, that was great!"

I blushed a little. "Heheh, thanks, Marley! I'll tell you what, I was _really_ nervous at parts, but I went with what you said and it paid off."

Pidove released herself from her PokéBall at that moment.

"_I've been thinking a bit…"_

"Oh hey, Pidove. We'll be going to your home in a few."

"_Even in the PokéBall, I could see what was happening outside. You and Axel… did really good."_

"Is that so? Are you complementing me now?"

"_I've lightened up. I was hoping you would give me a second chance."_

This made my day even better. "Of course I will! I wouldn't leave you behind if you didn't want me to. Heh, without you, I wouldn't last a second."

Pidove laughed a bit. _"Thanks, Jack. I'm sorry I was such a prick. I've had… a rough time with humans."_

"You'll be fine now," I said. "And thanks a lot for your hard work out there, Pidove."

"_Pidove? Oh, you can call me Hatchet again if you like. I never really minded that nickname. After all, I _would _rather be called by something other than my species' name."_

I kept my smile. "As you wish, Hatchet."

The three of us walked down the night's illuminated streets of Gloride City back to the Pokémon Center. Of course, along the way, my mom wouldn't stop messaging me, saying how proud she was of me. It made me wonder, though… I wonder if Kit saw it. We walked in the Pokémon Center and some of the workers there already recognized me.

"Weh-hell!" the man at the Pokémon Mart said. "If it isn't the man of the hour!"

I waved to him with a smile. I didn't really want to talk to anyone anymore tonight. I was extremely tired. The nurse healed my Pokémon while Marley arranged a room for the night. After she healed them, we walked up to our room where we had our own beds. We relaxed as she turned on the TV, and immediately, we were greeted by my own self. I didn't want to watch myself, anyway. I rolled on my stomach, head turned to the side, and quickly drifted asleep.

-End of Entry-

_It moved on from its mischief and now attacks randomly, looking for a fight. Constantly seeking opponents, it will often get careless and challenge opponents far stronger._

_Pyrate's Pokédex entry if you were curious. I didn't know how to put it in the story without being entirely out of place, so here it is._

_Please don't go hating because I gave Joshua a shiny Umbreon. Please? This will most likely be the only one in the story. I made it shiny because Umbreon is my favorite Pokémon (until Fennekin evolves, anyway) and its shiny form is incredible. Thank ye._

_However, if you want to hate me for disappearing last week, perfectly okay with that. Week before a break is always a pain in the rectum. But I'm gonna maliciously abuse this time off to air drum to Rise Against, play some Pokémon Showdown and Jak and Daxter, and drink unhealthy amounts of Jones Soda. …Along the way, I may upload the very last rewrites of this story so that I can actually write something original for once._

_Long author notes for a long chapter, I suppose. …it was long, right? I spent over 12 hours writing the first edition of this chapter… _

_Chap 7 come soon yey._


	7. Team Riot

_On my new file of Platinum, I caught a shiny Starly…  
before I got a Gym Badge…  
Here we finally are, the evil team, one of my favorite elements in this story._

Pokémon Dark/Light  
Entry 7 :: Team Riot

"I really don't understand why people tell the bad guys to do things. Come on, you really think we're going to listen?"

I had a dream last night. I was in this mystical-like room with a machine at the end of it. I was standing next to this guy with a top hat and tuxedo. In the room were also Kit, Marley, Mom, and the Professor. They were all smiling, and then Marley kissed me on the cheek. I carefully deposited six PokéBalls into the machine, and I heard high-pitched ringing, like a happy ring.

And then I woke up…

I sat up in the Pokémon Center bed. Marley was sound asleep in the other bed. The time was 8:57 a.m. I decided to leave on my own. I left the Pokémon Center and headed north. When I explored the city, I saw a breakfast dine-in and marked its location on my Pokévice's map for future use. I ordered a long stack of pancakes with some scrambled eggs and toast and a glass of apple juice. It didn't cost much; even Potions are a bit more expensive than a meal like this. I wondered, though… is there a place where Pokémon can eat? They serve Pokémon food in the Pokémon Center's marts, but I wouldn't want to eat the same thing over and over like that.

In the café eating breakfast, I heard some noise outside. It was getting closer. The sound was people shouting at each other. I sat at an empty table by the window. What I saw outside were the white-clothed people from yesterday. There were 3 of them, and they were running down the road, shouting to themselves and someone from behind. I saw their pursuer, just one person and a Purrloin.

I jumped from my seat and swung out of the café. I managed to catch up with Joshua and his Purrloin. I ran at his pace to talk to him. Joshua was still in pajamas, looking like he just rolled out of bed.

"What's up?" I said to him.

"Jack! Thank goodness you're here! Listen, since you found me, I could really, _really _use your help."

"Not a problem. What's wrong?"

"These… THIEVES! They broke into my house and stole my precious Umbreon while I was asleep. Thankfully, they made noise, so I woke up in time as they tried to escape. And here we are."

"These guys steal Pokémon?"

Joshua looked at me like I was from a different planet. "You mean you don't know who these guys are? Every time these idiots go somewhere, something gets stolen or ruined. I'd give you a brief rundown, but now's really not the time…"

"Alright, alright," I said. "What can I do to help?"

"It is said that they have a facility in Starcres City, one of Gloride's neighboring cities, so they're probably gonna pass through the west gate. I need you to get there before these guys do so that we can catch them from both sides."

"Okay," I said. "I'll see you at the gate."

"Go, go!"

I separated myself from the chase. Gloride City has many shortcuts, so if they stick to the main roads, I can beat them to the gate. I rushed away through lots and between buildings. I thanked myself for exploring the city early on; I knew a quick route to the west gate.

I came across the silver, black roofed gate leading out of the city to the western Starcres City. I ran through its glass automatic doors to find it free of any criminals. It took a minute, but I found them charging right at the gate. I stepped outside and I summoned both of my Pokémon at once, stopping them right in front of me. Joshua was right on the other side, and the guard in the gate had stepped out, making an even number. The team member in the middle had curly, light blond hair inside his bandanna. He talked in the silliest voice ever.

"Oh no!" he mocked. "Oh woe is us! Oh well. Take me to jail." He walked around, pretending he was handcuffed. He sang a moody tune. "Bum-ba dum bum bum buuuuuum." And then he fell on the ground, but only for a moment. "Come on, Joshy-boy! A kid and a fat guy won't intimidate us. You haven't won."

The large security guard spoke up. "All three of you are under arrest for assisted and attempted robbery. Place your hands on your head."

"Is that right…" the blond member said slowly, like in a child's voice. He then put his hands to his cheeks and widened his eyes. "Oh no! I dun wanna go to da jail!" He fell on the ground and looked like he was having a seizure, yelping and gurgling spastically. Something is seriously wrong with this guy. He jumped back onto his feet. "I really don't understand why people tell the bad guys to do things. Come on, you really think we're gonna listen?"

The guard took a PokéBall and tossed it on the ground. A fiery-looking dog appeared, Growlithe. The dog growled at the members.

"Heeeeeeyyyyy, look! A doggie!" The blond man said again. This guy doesn't seem to take anything seriously. "Aww, I want to pet the doggie!" He crouched on the ground and patted his legs. "Who's a good doggie! Who's a good doggie!" The Growlithe snarled and barked at him to the point where the guard had to hush it himself.

"Captain…" one of the other members said. It was a male who had long red hair.

"What? I'm just trying to… oh yeah! That's why we're here! Silly me. Well… goodbye!"

The captain took off in a full sprint. The guard tried to run after him, but two new members had joined us and blocked him off.

"Damn it!" Joshua shouted. "He's the one with my Umbreon! There's too many of these guys. We'll have to fight them off as quickly as we can, Jack."

I sighed angrily. The member facing me was the red-headed male who sent out a Timburr and a Lillipup. Pidove and Pyrate fought them off easily. Pidove managed to knock the Timburr out in 2 hits, and then they both combined their powers to take down Lillipup. We didn't even take any damage from the battle. Joshua was still fighting his opponents, but he didn't look like he was struggling.

"Nice work, Jack! I really hate to ask you this, but—"

"Don't worry, I'll go after that guy."

I had both my Pokémon retreat. Joshua kept things under control as I rushed through the gate and out onto Route 68. I ran as fast as I could. I ran for not even five minutes until I found the captain… standing around, hands on his knees, out of breath. He saw me and continued his antics.

"Aw, man! You're fast! You should join the Pokéathlon or something! Well anyway, you caught me. Shall we go to jail now?"

I watched him as he waltzed around with his arms out, held by invisible handcuffs. He placed himself down on the ground on his stomach.

"I have the right to remain silent. Anything I say can and will be used against me in the court of justice. Bum-ba dum bum bum buuuuuuuuum."

I took Axel's ball and summoned him. "Get up and fight," I said to the guy, annoyed. I've had enough of him already.

The guy jumped right on his feet. He looked at me and Pyrate for several moments. In a spastic motion, he quickly put both hands to his mouth and pretended to bite his nails.

"Oh no. Oh no. Oh no, oh no. Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. Oh boy. Ohhhh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no, no, no. Oh no."

"Shut up!" I shouted. "Call out your Pokémon and fight!"

He put his left hand to his chin. "Eeeeeee… We've got a tough kid on our hands… oh no, no, no!" He changed his voice so much, I really didn't know which was his real one. "Oh well. Go, Zangoose!"

The captain called out the white and red Cat Ferret Pokémon, Zangoose. I remember running with Marley and Kit from one back on Route 58. It stood just taller of Axel.

"Axel," I said calmly, "Use Smokescreen."

Axel shot out a plume of thick smoke and engulfed the enemy inside. The captain stayed calm.

"Zangoose, Swords Dance!"

I couldn't see the Zangoose as it danced in a frenzy inside the black fog. I need to do something quick since Swords Dance sharply improves one's physical attacks.

"Ember, Axel!"

Axel spewed rockets from its mouth and I heard Zangoose's cry as I heard them make contact.

"Get outta there, Zangoose; use Quick Attack!" the captain commanded. Zangoose shot like a bullet out of the cloud, but missed Axel entirely.

"Fury Cutter, quick!" he shouted.

"Again, Axel, Power Gem!" (Just as a side note, this morning I asked Doug what that bright attack was from last night. He said it was something called Power Gem. Not a move I ever heard of, but I won't doubt him.)

Zangoose charged again as Axel shot out the blinding shrapnel. It was a strong attack, too good for Zangoose. Zangoose was thrust back and landed on his back on the dirt, sliding to the captain's feet. He was unable to battle and the captain groaned.

"Thanks for nothing," he said under his breath as he returned Zangoose to its ball. He swapped the PokéBall with a different one on his belt. "You're next, Seviper!"

He tossed the PokéBall up and out came the Fang Snake, Seviper. A Pokémon team with both a Zangoose and Seviper is definitely an interesting one… The large snake hissed brutally at Axel, but Axel's strong enough to not be fazed.

"Axel, use Ember again!"

"Deflect them, Seviper," Reese said.

Once again, Axel fired out flaming rockets at the foe, but this time was different. With its spiked tail, Seviper blocked each of them with ease. Axel ceased fire.

"Good job, now use Wrap!"

Seviper quickly advanced onto Axel and wrapped it up tightly with its long body. Axel was unable to move.

"No, Axel!" I cried. Seviper hissed in Axel's face.

"Now, finish him!" Reese shouted confidently. "Use Bite!"

"Ember, Axel!" I shouted quickly.

Seviper advanced its head to Axel, but I remembered Joshua's Sandile from the Gym. Just like before, Axel used Ember right down Seviper's mouth. Seviper released Axel and struggled.

"Use Tackle, Axel!"

Axel slammed right into Seviper's head and knocked it down. Seviper, too, was knocked out quickly. The captain swore and stomped his foot down. He took the PokéBall and frustratingly returned Seviper. He stared at the ball for a moment and gave a 'Heh!' to himself as he placed it back on his belt. He took the third and last PokéBall off.

"Hohoho! That is a tough Pokémon you have!" he exclaimed. "Butcha can't beat 'ol Reese! Go, Umbreon!"

He summoned Joshua's Umbreon as his last resort. Umbreon came out of the PokéBall, looking scared. The poor thing was shaking… He looked around at its surroundings, at me, then at Reese. The second he saw him, he took off running at full speed back toward the city.

"Ohhhh no you don't!" Reese shouted as he sprinted to get Umbreon back. As he ran, I saw him pull out a device in the shape of a handgun. Fearing the worst, I ran after him and was reasonably faster than him. I dove, and tackled him to the ground. But it was too late. Reese had pulled the trigger on the gun, and to my surprise, a rainbow-colored beam shot out. It hit Umbreon and spread around, engulfing his body before slowly fading away. Umbreon stopped in its tracks and turned around.

"That's a good boy," Reese said deviously.

Umbreon charged toward us and collided—right into me, knocking me away from Reese. Like, far away. I must have flown fifteen yards away before skidding around on the ground. I lay there, motionless on my back. I lifted my head and saw Umbreon, glaring right at me with his head lowered. Did he do that… to protect Reese? Axel came rushing over to me, shouting his head off, asking if I was okay.

"Good boy! Good boy!" Reese said happily as he ruffled Umbreon's head. Umbreon didn't do a thing to him. Reese stood back on his feet and laughed darkly at me. "Did you really think that I only ran a mile, got exhausted, and didn't have a plan? Come, now. Team Riot doesn't appoint idiots as their moderators."

I glared at him and stayed right where I was without even moving. Axel too glared at him. Reese laughed again.

"But first," he said as he held up the gun. "I'll take that Pyrate."

Reese fired the beam. I reacted fast; I ripped the PokéBall from my belt and summoned him back. The beam engulfed the PokéBall, but fortunately didn't seem to have any effect. Reese swore as he stomped his foot down again.

"Oh, whatever!" he said. "I'll just come and take it, then! Umbreon, hit him with Dark Pulse."

Umbreon used my least favorite move directly at me. I tried to roll away, but the beam followed and caught me. It was painful, I must admit.

"Shadow Ball!"

The next attack. The sphere smashed into me, crushing me. The attack even lowered the ground, and I was in the middle of it. This hurt a lot more. I couldn't even move my legs at this point. Reese laughed as he and Umbreon walked over to me.

"Use Sand Attack, and we'll see what he thinks then."

Umbreon kicked sand directly into my face, stinging my eyes. I couldn't help but yell out. I didn't submit to their method, however.

"Again."

More sand. My eyes were closed, but my mouth wasn't. I coughed and gagged at it, but still didn't give in.

"Again."

More sand to choke on. This really kinda sucked just a little bit. All I had to do was reach onto my belt, take Axel's ball off, and hand it to him. The two would walk away without saying anything else. But I didn't even think about doing that. These guys want to get their way by brute force, and I wasn't about to let them go through me. Even if these guys killed me, I wouldn't sell my precious Pokémon to them.

"You know what?" Reese said. "I can just take it!"

I sensed him reach out to my belt, reaching for Axel's PokéBall. I slapped his hand away. He stood over me and stamped down on both my hands, binding them to the ground. My legs were still immobile. I sensed him about to lower down and take Axel again, but suddenly I heard him fly off of me, with him and Joshua scream.

"You leave that kid alone!" Joshua bellowed, pinning Reese down to the ground. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I could finally open them again, though I wish I could move my legs as well. I could really use a glass of water, too… I coughed hard as I sat up and turned to find Reese and Joshua struggling.

"Umbreon!" Reese cried. "Don't just stand there, help me out!"

Umbreon was about to charge. I managed to reach out and grab him just in time, restraining him. There was a silent moment, except for the sounds of me, Joshua, and Reese straining. I coughed again.

"Umbreon! What did you do to him?" Joshua shouted to Reese. Reese just laughed darkly again.

"Again, why would I tell you? I wouldn't be a good criminal if I spilled out all of my info, now would I?"

I turned around and saw Marley and the security guard from earlier run toward me. "There they are!" Marley shouted.

"I got this, son," the guard said to me, as I switched my hold over Umbreon to him. He didn't seem to have any trouble restraining it.

I managed to stand up again, but slowly. Marley brushed off my clothes a little.

"You're all beat up and dirty," she said. "What happened?"

"I…" I croaked, but that was all I could do before I coughed up more sand.

"You okay?" Marley said, rubbing my back.

"Never—(cough cough)—better…"

"Mickey called Joshua because he wasn't at the school. He called me when Joshua filled him in, so I found the guard. He had the two other members arrested before I got there, so we ran down to help you out."

"Thanks," I croaked again, but more audibly than ever.

"Jack!" Joshua called to me, still struggling to keep Reese down. "On my belt, right side, I have 3 empty PokéBalls. Take one and call Umbreon back."

Walking was tough for me, but I managed to waddle over and take on of the PokéBalls off his belt. I pointed it to Umbreon and summoned him back, but Umbreon didn't respond. Joshua noticed.

"Umbreon!" he called. "It's okay, buddy. Jack's a friend. You don't have to worry about him. Just go back into the Ball for now."

Umbreon still didn't respond. He growled and barked at Joshua. The guard was now struggling a bit to keep him under control.

"Umbreon? What's wrong? I know you're afraid and I'm sorry this guy took you, but everything's okay. Okay? Everything's alright, you don't have to be scared anymore."

Umbreon snarled again. Reese chuckled a bit.

"Hey Umbreon, try hitting him with Dark Pulse or something."

Joshua had almost no time to react as Umbreon shot his Dark Pulse… right at his own master. With a shout, Joshua was flung away from Reese. I tried to go to him, but my legs stopped responding. Reese laughed evilly.

"Good job! Good boy!"

The guard was about to take out a Pokémon, but Reese pointed the gun at him.

"Call out a Pokémon, and I promise you, you will lose that Pokémon. Same goes for all of you," he said, waving the gun around to all of us.

"You can't get us all!" Marley shouted, challenging him.

"So one Pokémon gets lost while the others take me down? Still don't see how that would help you, seeing as more are on the way as we speak. And seriously, what kind of Trainer would put their own Pokémon in danger like that?"

"Wh… what?" Marley said weakly.

"Two of you are stunned, one's keeping an Umbreon from beating you all half to death, and another is standing around doing nothing," Reese said, pointing his fingers at each of us. "I think this mission is a huge success."

"I swear to you…" Joshua grumbled, finally recovering from his attack. Wish I could say the same… "You may get away today… but I will hunt you down. I will chase you to the ends of the earth. I will follow you until the day I die, I SWEAR TO IT." He had slowly made his way to Reese and gave a sharp right hook as he finished his promise.

Reese was knocked on the ground. He rubbed his cheek. "…Ow! Awh… nice punch, man!"

"Like that?" Joshua said, picking up Reese by the collar. "HOW 'BOUT ANOTHER?"

"And then what happens?" Reese said. "You'll feel a sense of accomplishment knowing that you can beat me six ways 'til Sunday, perhaps, but will that get your Pokémon back?"

Joshua didn't reply. His narrowed eyes bored into Reese's unfaltering look.

"It doesn't matter, Joshy-boy," Reese continued. "Your Umbreon is mine. You've lost, and there's not a thing you can do to change it."

"Reese!" a woman shouted from a distance.

"And look at that," Reese said carelessly, as if Joshua wasn't holding him by the collar. "My ride's here."

The woman was followed by four more white-clothed people, punctuating our defeat. They all came from Gloride City. The woman threw out a yellow and brown Pokémon… what was it called again?

"Let him go, now," she demanded.

Joshua gave the same glare at the woman, but he tossed Reese away from him. Reese smiled as he brushed his shirt off.

"Where in the world have you guys been?" Reese said, joining his crew.

"Apologies, captain," the woman said. "The police have warrants for everyone and they're after us. We've lost four men already."

"No worries," Reese said. "The mission was a success. We've no need to be here. Let's get a move on."

"What about them?" the woman said, directing herself to us.

"Oh, I took good care of them. They won't try to stop us—or rather, they can't."

"And the Pokémon?"

"…Crap!" Reese half-shouted. "Almost forgot about our trophy. Return, Umbreon!"

Umbreon obeyed him once again and cast himself back into the PokéBall. The guard was about to make a move now that he was free, but Joshua put a hand to his shoulder.

"Let them go," he said.

"But… Joshua!" I said.

"It's just like Reese said," Joshua continued. "There's nothing we can do. A real Trainer knows when they've lost and must always accept their defeat."

"Well said, Joshy-boy," Reese said from the safety of his team. "You're certainly a good Gym Leader. …Until we took your Pokémon, anyway."

To my surprise, Joshua said nothing.

"I have a feeling that we will meet again soon," Reese said to all of us with a smile that would be deemed friendly if he weren't a bad guy. "I cannot wait for that day to come."

Reese nodded to the female. Everyone in the group connected themselves like a chain, ending with the woman holding the yellow Pokémon by the shoulder.

"Kadabra, Teleport!" she said. In one flash, all of the Team Riot members vanished, taking Kadabra with them. Joshua was still silent.

"Let's go home," he said sadly.

Marley helped me up and supported me as we walked back to the city. As we walked, there was still one burning question on my mind…

"Joshua…" I said, relieved that I could finally talk again. "I'm really sorry to ask… but, who were those guys, anyway?"

"It's okay," he replied. "I expected you to ask again. Those guys were members of Team Riot, a large criminal gang spread out all over Falloh. They're nothing but no good, notorious, lying, stealing pieces of crap. Every single one of them. They steal Pokémon from any Trainer they see. I don't know why—I don't even CARE why—but that's what they do."

"But what did they do to Umbreon?" Marley asked. "You two were so close, but he looked at you like an enemy."

"Remember that gun he was holding?" I said. "It's how they take Pokémon. He shot something at Umbreon… and then Umbreon turned evil. It's like he… controlled his mind or something."

"Well isn't that just great," Joshua replied. "Although, that doesn't surprise me one bit. Team Riot is horrible, but they aren't stupid. Their leader is completely incognito. Nobody even has a trace of who he… or she is. Not even a clue. Hell, I don't even think that half of the team themselves know who it is."

"Giovanni," Marley replied. "It's gotta be the former leader of Team Rocket. After they disbanded the first time, he completely disappeared. This Team Riot seems a lot like them."

"Giovanni was found dead 12 years ago," the guard replied. "About a decade after Team Rocket's comeback, he committed suicide near his secret home. After Team Rocket, he turned into a depressed man who hated himself. He lived in agony the rest of his life."

"That's… horrible," Marley said sadly.

"He died and lived in a horrible way," the guard said, "but I can't say I feel bad for him. He turned his own life into poison, and that's why he was defeated. Cyrus of Team Galactic was the same way, he got destroyed by Giratina. Archer of the second Team Rocket is still incognito. No trace of him or his other executives. Archie and Maxie from Team Aqua and Team Magma from Hoenn live in solace. They've secluded themselves to live in the world peacefully."

"They lost because their teams were weak," Joshua continued. "The executives from the second Team Rocket and Cyrus only cared about themselves, so only they were the strong ones. Archie and Maxie had tough teams, but they turned weak because they kept fighting each other. Their downfall was evident."

"I see…" I said. The rest of the walk was silent as I pondered just how bad Team Riot could be…

x[]o

"I'm sorry, Jack," Joshua said.

"For what?"

We got back to Gloride City. The guard went to the police station to report about Team Riot. Joshua walked me and Marley back to the empty school. We sat at one of the desks. Sitting was never more relaxing at that moment.

"I asked you to go after them, and you got hurt. I'm really, really sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it," I said. "I would've went after them even if you didn't ask. Hey, I should be thanking you, actually. Who knows what they would've done to me if you hadn't shown up. I should be the one who's sorry. I couldn't get your Umbreon back…"

"No, no," Joshua said. "It's not your fault. You did everything you could. I really owe you one."

"It's fine," I replied. "But what's gonna happen to the Gym?"

"I can still run the place no problem," he said carelessly. It didn't seem like something he was very concerned about. "But Umbreon… he was my co-host, man… Never walked into a battle on TV without using him."

I sighed in sadness. What was there to say?

"So…" Joshua said again. He changed his sad tone to a normal tune. "What are you going to do now?"

Marley and I looked at each other. "I didn't really think about it. I can hardly walk right now, honestly, but I think I'm gonna go to Watercolor City for the second Gym."

"That's cool," Joshua said. "What about you?" he turned to Marley. "You're traveling with him, aren't you?"

Marley scratched her head then adjusted her bandanna. "Yeah, but I kinda wanna head back home for a bit." She turned to me. "If that's okay with you, of course."

"You do what you want to do," I replied. "I'm fine either way."

"So, you're going your separate ways, I see," Joshua said. "Well, I hope for the best for both of you. If you ever need anything…" Joshua grabbed a piece of paper that was in a drawer in the desk. "Here's my Pokévice number. I'll be here to help."

Marley and I stored the number into our contact list. "Thanks, Joshua," I said. "You've been a great friend."

"Anytime," he smiled.

"Anyway," I said, standing up slowly. "I'm gonna head back to the Pokémon Center. I need a good rest."

"Good, good," Joshua said. "You should. I'll be here or around the TV station if you need me."

"Alright," Marley said. "Thanks a lot, Joshua."

Marley and I left the empty school and we went back to our room in the Pokémon Center. She was awfully quiet, though.

"Hey, you okay?" I said when she was about done packing.

"Fine," she said, but still subtly different.

"You don't seem so fine to me."

She sighed as she zipped up her bag. She took Chester's PokéBall and looked at it a bit.

"That man… he said 'what kind of Trainer would put their Pokémon in danger…'"

"I remember."

"Well, what, then?!" she almost shouted. "What kind of Trainer does that make me…"

"You never had the intention of getting your Pokémon hurt," I reassured her.

"Of course not, but…" she apparently wasn't reassured. "I never even considered what could've happened to Chester or anyone else if I went with my plan."

"You made a mistake. Everyone does it. If there's anything I know about you, Marley, it's that you're one of the most protective people I've seen when it comes to Pokémon."

She sighed. "Even still… that one incident has made me really think about myself. I really let Chester and Fortune down, even if they don't know it."

"Marley, you really shouldn't worry about it. You were never meant to be a strong Trainer, and a mistake is a mistake, and you'll never make it again, I'm sure. You didn't mean any harm."

"…What the hell does that mean?"

"Hm?"

"'Not meant to be a strong Trainer?'" she shouted. "Like you can prove otherwise? 'A mistake is a mistake?' Like it's okay that I jeopardized my Pokémon?!"

"Wh—I never meant…"

"Look, Jack, I know that I'm not fit enough to become the Champion, but that doesn't mean I'm weak. And maybe you can live with mistakes, but I'm not about to drop the fact that I was about to throw my Pokémon at a criminal with a mind-control device."

And with that, she put her PokéBall back, swung her bag over the shoulder, and stormed out of the room.

-End of Entry-

_Lots of Author's Notes this time around. _

_Reese is probably my favorite character in the whole story._

_Don't give up on me just yet, Team Riot is much more than just stealing Pokémon. Like all the teams (except the first Team Rocket I suppose), they have some certain goal they want to complete, but that's in the Dark for now…_

_Anyway, that's all I've got to put in for now. Jack will be traveling solo now, putting more of the games' atmosphere into play. I think it's easier that way. _

_Ready for OC submissions? Here you go:_

**ATTENTION! TEAM RIOT IS HIRING MODERATORS!**  
Do YOU have what it takes to control one of the largest criminal teams in the world? Well, now's your chance! Team Riot is looking for only the best of the best bad guys out there. All you have to do is fill out this simple application, and someone will get back to you with his/her decision.

There are some simple restrictions:  
1. Do not ask about our leader. Seriously. We don't know either.  
2. No stealing Pokémon from other members. Yes, we have to say that. Some people can't help it.  
3. Only blow up the things we tell you to.  
4. No killing anything. We don't go THAT far.  
5. We take business very seriously. We only have 30 random parties a year. Hey, Team Rocket only had 1: Giovanni's birthday.  
6. Use of the words 'shiz,' 'ridonculous,' 'whatev,' 'o-m-g,' 'shank,' 'swag', 'YOLO', and 'police' are strictly forbidden.  
7. We have a dungeon. It has a Salamance that knows Flamethrower. If you joke about the cops showing up, we WILL throw you down there for the dragon.  
8. Anyone watching the Disney Channel in the break room will be thrown out of the window immediately. The break room is on the top floor. The building is pretty high. You might want to keep a parachute handy if you like the Disney Channel 'cuz we might just throw you out for that anyway. We're so silly!  
9. No pulling pranks on the other moderators. That's why we hired Juniors. Juniors are like Grunts if you were on the other teams, except we think Grunt sounds like we hired apes.  
10. If you joined one of the other teams in the past, we will mock you about it for the rest of your life. TEAM RIOT IS NUMBER ONE!

To join, you must fill out this application.  
**Name:** Use your real name. We don't want anyone named something stupid, like Bing Boing.  
**Age:** If you are under 13, we will laugh at you and tell you to go home. We may also throw things at you.  
**Height:** Little people are cool. …Doesn't matter either way, really.  
**Weight:** We won't laugh at your weight. You trust us… right?  
**Appearance:** If you look like a drug dealer, we will be very alarmed. We would call the cops on you, but that would get us nowhere. If you look like a psycho—great! Crazy people are hilarious. Especially those who go into psycho rages when things go wrong for them. THOSE moderators you can pull pranks on.  
**Occupation:** If you're in college, we will promptly tell you to leave and stay in school. We are serious. We take education very seriously. That's how we got so clever!  
**Personality:** The more awesome you are, the better. But if you're a 'nice guy,' then you probably shouldn't be applying.  
**Favorite Eevee Evolution:** Actually, put all of them in order. Your favorite could possibly be taken, so we will then move down the list, and so on.  
**Other information we may or may not need to know: **Past teams? Hobbies? I dunno, just put stuff here if you want.

If you put what I specifically said to NOT put, like put Bing Boing, age 4, look like an idiot, go to Yale, former member of PETA, only list Eevee, and say you were Team Galactic, we will not find you funny. We take things very seriously. We are actually very serious people. Also, we will promptly kick you out if you were on Team Galactic. Team Galactic sucks!

We only have 2 remaining positions available. Sorry. I, Reese, got here first, so don't put Umbreon on that list. My Umbreon is cooler anyway. It's blue!

Last author's note: "There's 7 Eeveelutions, 1 is taken, and now there's 2 left. WTF?!' This was updated after chapter 9 got uploaded. Better hurry if you wanna spot. And then the cameos will vary. Someone will debut in Chapter 9, but someone else may not debut for a long time. It will be randomly picked, though, so no 'first come first serve' except for the Eeveelutions. AND NO SYLVEON. DOESN'T EVEN EXIST YET.

If all the spots are taken by the time you get here, or I don't approve of your OC, do not fret. There will be yet another OC submission for minor characters very, very soon.


	8. Route 60

_that awkward moment when it snows on your last days of spring break.  
OH AND I'VE JUST BEEN TOLD THAT MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE BROKE UP, OH WELL THAT'S JUST WONDERFUL.  
new summary for de lulz  
_

Pokémon Dark/Light  
Entry 8 :: Route 60

"Humans are the most selfish and heartless things that have ever walked on this planet."

The Pokévice rang. I was getting a phone call. I reached on my bedside table and picked it up, first recognizing the time as 8:24 a.m. Below was a saved picture of Marley, confirmed by her name listed below.

First unlocking the phone, I answered it casually. "Hello?"

"Hey," Marley said softly. "Sleeping?"

"Oh not at all," I lied. "I've been awake for a few minutes."

"That's good," she replied. "But uh…"

There was a pause. I waited for her to finish.

"…Sorry about yesterday."

Not meant to be a strong Trainer… heh. What I said was what I really thought, but I never had the intention of hurting her feelings like that. Yesterday really sucked because of that, not because of Team Riot.

"It was my fault," I admitted.

"You didn't know better and I shouldn't have gotten so angry like that. It was wrong of me."

'Didn't know better'? …Perhaps this makes us even.

"It was my fault," I repeated.

"This journey so far…" Marley continued. "We've only just begun, and look what's happened… Kit's gone, those Team Riot guys taking Pokémon from a Gym Leader…"

There was another pause. Like before, I waited for her to continue.

"I'll be honest, Jack, this journey is nothing like I imagined it."

Heh… I suppose I could say so myself; but the truth is that I never had any expectations on this journey. Like Marley, I didn't really plan on traveling without Kit or running into a team of criminals, but I suppose I can't say I was expecting this journey to be 100% perfect. That's just how the world works. But then again, what do I know? I've hardly even seen the world.

"But anyway," Marley said, lightening her tone a bit. "You sure you're alright traveling alone? I mean, I didn't mean to leave you alone to get away from you or anything, I just felt like going home for a bit…"

"You do what you want to do, Marley," I said. "We may've traveled together, but we each have our own path to follow. Are you home now?"

"Not yet, I'm on Route 58. Since 59's so long, I had to spend a night at Doug's, but he was okay with it. But to be honest… I'm wondering what will happen once I get home."

"Why's that?"

"You know, my parents and stuff," Marley continued. "They always supported and encouraged me with this journey, but I'm pretty sure they thought I couldn't do it. I just hope they don't say that…"

"Oh, don't worry. You shouldn't ever be afraid of your parents."

Marley giggled a bit. "Well, my parent's also aren't afraid of speaking their minds, whether it hurts me or not." She sighed.

"Well, if your parents are giving you a hard time, mom would always take you in for a bit." I laughed bit at the thought of that.

She laughed as well. "Aww, but your mom's so sweet! I'll definitely visit, though. And Kit's mom, I'd like to see how she's doing."

"Say hi to both of them for me."

"Sure thing," Marley said happily. "So what are you gonna do today?"

"Uh… I think… nothing," I replied thoughtfully. "Yeah, nothing is what I'm gonna do today."

"Wow, I'm impressed. You NEVER do nothing."

"I want to get back on the road, but I can hardly walk on my own. There's no way I'm making it to Watercolor City like this."

"That sucks. Now I _really_ feel bad about leaving you…"

"Like I said, it's not a big deal. We've got different goals anyway, I wanna be the Champion while you wanna complete your Pokédex."

"Hm… that's true I guess." Really, what I wanted to do didn't affect Marley's loyalty, she'd probably follow Kit and I to hell and back again and not give a single complaint. Still, though, if I'm gonna travel alone, it's perfectly fine by me. My Pokémon are more than enough to keep me company.

"This is your adventure as much as mine. If you wanna go off on your own, go ahead. If you wanna travel with me again, I'll even wait for you to catch up."

"Heh. You're so nice, Jack."

That's ironic (which I almost said aloud). Yesterday, she stormed out of Gloride City pissed off at me, now she's calling me nice. I smiled.

Like old friends, we chatted for the next couple hours until Marley got home. It's kind of funny, because it felt like we hadn't talked in so long, though we've only been separated for a day. It's like time is toying with us, though I never gave much interest in it anyway.

Today was so extremely boring. I've probably mentioned earlier that I'm not much of an indoor person. The outside world has no boundaries, no walls restricting your movement. You can find everything in a room fairly quickly, but the world is far too big to ever fully see. It's… magnificent. And plus, I'm on a journey! I don't want a vacation where I loaf around every day, I wanna get back outside, challenge some Trainers, buff up my Pokémon! This journey just offers too much excitement; my Pokémon and I agree. I'm getting even more stir-crazy as I write this. After this, I'm avoiding injuries like the plague.

At least my Pokémon got to do something, though. Joshua tracked me down and came by to check up on me. He even took my Pokémon out for his daily morning jog. Heh, that sounds pretty good right now, even though it's night. Anyway, Joshua at least seems to be feeling a bit better, and I think being with Axel and Hatchet gave him a little boost of cheer. Still, though, having that Pokémon away… I can't imagine what that must've felt like. Heck, I was this close to having the same thing happen, but at least PokéBalls seem to negate that ray gun's effects. A second's instinct is what saved me from losing Axel. That's all. Meanwhile, Joshua was attacked by his own buddy. Poor guy.

But man, that Team Riot… I just wrote a paragraph on here about how much I hate them, but I erased it all. The only thing that thinking about them does is make me angry, how they've hurt my friends and myself. Every time I see them, they'll pay.

I couldn't wait for sleep to take me away for the night. I got up at around 9 and checked my room out. Full strength or not (it's a 'not', but I can at least walk on my own semi-comfortably), it's time to leave. Before I did, I eased up the weight I've been carrying in my bag by selling my tent. Not like I'll get much use out of it, and most routes have a rest house along the way anyway. After receiving a moderate amount of cash for the tent, I bought a Burn Heal, an Ice Heal, six Super Potions, two Antidotes, and two Paralyz Heals. The interesting thing about Pokémon Marts is that the items available for purchase depends on how many Gym Badges you have. Since I just have this one badge, I can only get the stuff I listed, save for some PokéBalls, but I still have a few from Doug. Afterward, I healed my Pokémon as a precaution, though I doubt they got bruised up yesterday. Still, after that lazy day, I wanna make sure they're in top condition for the road.

Finally, we were outside. Time to head north to Watercolor. Really, I could've headed west to Starcres City, but despite its size and popularity, it doesn't foster a Gym, and it's a dead end since I can't cross water. No point in heading there for a while. I texted Joshua a goodbye and let him know I was on my way to Watercolor City. He told me to look for someone named Aimee, who apparently runs the Day Care at the end of the route.

I set off for Route 60. The route was different than the first two. The first two routes had grass beside the clear, dirt road, but this time, the road seemed less tended too, for the wild grass grew in frequent places throughout the clearing, and the road was broken in places were the grass grew in its place. It was no use avoiding it. Axel stood confidently beside me as we trudged along the route's wild patches.

The path wasn't mainly straight like the other routes, either. It would twist and turn through rows of trees randomly. On the east side, Mt. Sagend made a jagged and rugged path around it, with the many foothills created many ledges that were easy (and rather fun, actually) to jump down, but impossible to climb up, making a one-way trip down. There were some outcroppings and large rocks jutting out of the earth on this side, making parts of the road impassable.

This route was also more populated than the other routes. At first, it just seemed like me, Kit, and Marley on the whole road, but now, there was a countless amount of unfamiliar Trainers like me. They were scattered all throughout the route, so it's not like I couldn't go two steps without finding a new one. Most of these guys were itching for a battle, which was something I refused to turn down. They say that if a Trainer locks eyes with another Trainer, the pair must engage in a Pokémon Battle. It never made sense to me until I came out into the Trainers' world, seeing these other Trainers competing to be the Champion, but there's only room for one in the Hall of Fame. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

To my surprise, the Trainers I fought really weren't anything special, though upon further investigation, it wasn't hard to see why. For starters, maybe 5% of them had beaten Joshua. The Pokémon they had were the local wild Pokémon, which doesn't entirely determine their strength, but it likely shows that they've either only recently caught them, or they haven't traveled very far. Granted, there were a few oddities, a couple even being Pokémon I've never seen or heard of, but I countered that by using Pyrate, as practically nobody had ever heard of it, and people were even more overwhelmed by his performance on the field. Still, I couldn't let Axel have all the fun on such a long trip, so he and Hatchet alternated each time they defeated a Pokémon.

For some strange reason, we were beginning to find items discarded throughout the road. Probably just dropped by a Trainer that walked before us. But it's weird, some would be perfectly placed somewhere, like on a rock or in a clearing, as if someone left it there on purpose as a gift to whoever found it. I don't know why, but I probably won't. Finders keepers I suppose.

Another thing I noticed, if we're not fighting Trainers, we're fighting wild Pokémon. You never know when they'll they'd jump out and attack us throughout the thick grass. Like the previous routes, the wild Pokémon aren't too threatening, but they seem to be considerably stronger than those on the earlier routes. Still, it didn't require much effort from either of my Pokémon to take them down. After a while though, with the Trainers combined with the wild Pokémon, Hatchet or Axel would start getting hurt, so I would heal them up with my remaining stockpile of Potions and an occasional Super Potion. One question kept coming to my mind, though. No use trying to ignore it, it wouldn't go away.

"So how come you didn't like me when you first met me?" I asked Hatchet.

Pidove continued to look ahead as she answered, "_The flock of Pidove I live with have had our share of humans. I've lost track of the homes we've had to move from because of humans cutting it down for their own good. I've always considered humans as evil, cruel, and thoughtless beings._"

Hatchet actually shocked me with her answer and I started to feel a tight feeling in my stomach, like someone's grasping it tightly. It made me feel sick.

"Not every human is like that," I replied slowly. Hatchet shook her head.

"_We kept trying and trying to convince ourselves of that,_" she said. "_But we were only lying to ourselves. Humans are the most selfish and heartless things that have ever walked this planet. They think they're the best and they think of themselves first. If anything major in the wild goes on, it's because the humans are messing up the planet._"

Hatchet paused for a moment and brushed her face briefly with her right wing. When she was done, she rapidly shook her head and shivered for a second.

"_You're right, though," _she continued. "_Not all humans are like that. But I think the human race needs to put more thought in their actions._"

Hatchet's words made me think as we continued our journey through the grassy road. To the left of us was the forest, where even more wild Pokémon could be found. To the right, however, was a more clear area filled with isolated trees and many outcroppings from Mt. Sagend which loomed over us not too far away. As I tried to look up to examine its peak, it felt as if I was gonna tumble over. This section of the route had far more Trainers than grass patches.

At some point into our walk, still early in the day and right after downing a wild Mareep, Pidove started looking a little weird. By that, I mean she was looking at herself funny, like she didn't recognize herself anymore.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked.

Hatchet looked at me. _"Huh? Oh, I'm… I'm fine. Actually, I think I may have learned a new move."_

"So why are you looking all weirded out?"

"_Well, I already had 4 moves," _she replied. _"That means I forgot something." _In the Gym, I only had her use Quick Attack, Sand Attack, and Gust, given the situation. I tried out her Growl in the wild and on a couple Trainers, but I never found much of a use for it, honestly. Plus, Hatchet apparently hated that move, saying she felt awkward trying to play as a cute Pokémon.

"_What's wrong with that?"_ Axel asked. _"That's happened for me, but I never felt much different."_

Hatchet laughed. _"Duh. You evolved. Whatever changes you felt you assumed were because of your evolution. It's similar for me, though I would imagine it being a little less significant."_

"So what did you learn?"

"_Well, let me try my Gust attack to see if I still know it. But I need a wild Pokémon… HEY! WEAKLINGS! COME HERE AND GIVE YOUR LIFE SOME SORT OF MEANING!"_

"Pidove!" I shouted a bit angrily. I only called them by their species' name when I have a problem with them. "Be nice!"

"_They're fine, they're just weak. Like this guy here,"_ she pointed to a Sewaddle that emerged from the tall grass. Before the Sewaddle could even realize the immense disadvantage he was put in, Hatchet had whipped up a whirlwind. However, this was quite different from her standard Gust, as this was a much more forceful storm, and was characterized by tiny, nearly invisible blades in the wind. The poor Sewaddle was thrown back into the grass with a painful "Wa-wa!"

"_Yes! Hell yes! I finally did it!"_

"What WAS that?" I asked, but I was rather impressed with the show.

_"Air Cutter. Not many of the Pidove in my flock had it; the few Tranquill and the leader, Unfezant, were the primary users. I must be pretty close to my evolution now…"_

"That's great, Hatchet! Good for you! It won't be long until you catch up to Axel now."

Axel gave her a confident grin with only subtle signs of bragging, but Hatchet was smart enough to detect it. She gave a wry smile and patted him on the back before walking on our destined path.

"_C'mon, more heads need to roll."_

A few Trainers, several wild Pokémon later, and probably twenty minutes later, we stopped to here the sound of cheering from not people, but a moderate group of Pokémon nearby. We turned to the scene to find a group of probably 10 to 15 purple Nidoran crowded below a rock much taller than them. At the top was another purple Nidoran. I read once that the purple Nidoran are the male ones. The females have lighter bodies.

The group of Nidoran at the bottom kept cheering for the Nidoran on top. They kept shouting, _"DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!" _in unison. I can only guess what the Nidoran on top was planning on doing.

Pidove flapped down from my shoulder and moved in closer. _"What in the world is this, something for the idiot box?"_

The Nidoran on the tall rock made a leap and came crashing down toward the crowd of Pokémon. They scrambled out of his way to give him room for landing, and SPLAT! He fell right on his face. The crowd made disappointed groans and words and then ran away from the scene all in different directions. I don't think I'll know why.

We walked over to the fallen Nidoran, still laying there like a lump. He didn't seem too happy with himself.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked him.

"_Fine,"_ he said. For a seemingly young Nidoran, his voice sounded rather gruff and mature_. "Wish they didn't leave me, though. Can't get up on my own like this."_

"Here—let me help you."

I picked up the small Pokémon and set him back down on all fours. He sat down on his rear and closed his eyes.

"_Thanks,"_ he said.

"So what were you doing, jumping off of that, anyway?"

"_I'm trying to build a reputation, you see,"_ the Nidoran said. _"I hate being a nobody in my group. So I wanna impress some lady Nidoran, you know? Everyone loves a daredevil."_

"So how's that going for you so far?"

The Nidoran chuckled. _"You kiddin'? You saw what happened. I'm worthless! Every attempt I do is a failure! I kept braggin' and braggin' about how I could jump off the Tall Rock—err, that's just the tallest rock in our territory just to know—and land on all fours. They said I couldn't do it, so… you know."_

"But if you're not successful, then why try?" I said. "I mean, don't mean to offend, but I would think being a failure's worse than being a nobody."

Nidoran shook his head. _"Can't help it. Just something that seems to run in my family. We're a buncha stupidheads. It's only in my nature that I do something stupid."_

"I see…"

"_Anyway. Name's Archer. Nice to meet yeh."_

"Same to you," I smiled. "I'm Jack. That Pyrate's Axel and the Pidove is Hatchet."

"_Huh. Sure've never seen anything called a Pyrate before, but hello. So yous travelers or what?"_

"Yeah. We're on our way to Watercolor City, actually. I'm working to become the Champion."

Archer widened his eyes. _"The Champion, you say? That's… very interesting, actually. How's that working so far?"_

"Well, I just started really," I said, scratching the back of my head. "But I say things are looking pretty good."

"_I see…" _Archer said as he scratched his face with his rear leg. _"Well, I don't want to hold yous three up! Yous got a long way ahead of ya! I hope yous succeed!"_

"Thanks Archer," I replied happily. "Are you feeling alright, though? Do you need any help or something?"

"_Nah, nah. I just gotta get back to the clearing before the king finds out and kicks my hide. But hey, if yous do become the Champion, yous gotta come and see me later."_

"I'll remember that," I smiled. "Take care, Archer!"

We began to walk back onto the road until we heard Archer call back to us.

"_Wait!" _he said. We stopped and turned to see him dashing toward us.

"What's up?" I asked.

Archer hesitated for a moment and then finally spoke up. _"Eh… I don't wanna intrude or anything, so don't be afraid to say no… but…"_

"What is it?"

"_Well… I wanna go with yous on your adventure. Like, be on your team and stuff. I wanna prove to myself that I can be strong and all that. But if yous don't want me too, that's—"_

"No, no!" I interjected. "Actually, I think it would be nice if you were on the team. But do you wanna just leave immediately from all your family and—"

"_Ah, they won't care. My mother would always tell me, 'whatever the king or your father doesn't know won't hurt you.' Plus I got like 10 brothers and sisters. If one leaves, they assume it's dead and then they move on. Doesn't really bother them." _

I heard a bit of stomping and a large figure came out from the trees on the west. It was their leader—the Nidoking. I've heard Nidoking are tough, tough Pokémon. He eyed Archer for a moment and then at me and my Pokémon, then walked away, grumbling to himself.

"_Urgh, these damn Trainers on their damn adventures and their damn Pokémon and their damn…" _His voice was too distant to hear any longer.

Archer turned back to me. _"See?" _he said. _"He doesn't care. He's just a grumpy ol' Pokémon anyway. He don't really care as long as he gets the big half of dinner."_

"Sounds like he's lived a good life," I said wondrously.

"_You've no idea."_

"So you wanna come with us? Alright. First just let me…" I took a PokéBall off my belt. "I just need to… go like, sorta… and then we… and yeah, there we go." I had dropped the Ball onto Archer and he was absorbed inside the capsule. It didn't even shake. It just made the ding signaling that he was captured. My third Pokémon! This is a good day.

Soon after that, after maybe our first mostly-clear mile of the route, we gathered by a rock wall to have lunch, just me and my Pokémon. I poured out a can of meat for Axel and helped Hatchet and Archer in the woods. Hatchet liked Cheri Berries more than anything, and Archer is apparently a herbivore, so we gathered all sorts of wild plants and berries. And then we had a nice little picnic, four friends together on a journey.

x[]o

Well, it took pretty much the whole day. I could see the sun beginning to set, but right ahead of us were the buildings of Watercolor City. I checked the Pokévice. The time was 7:52 p.m. I had earlier put my Pokémon back into their PokéBalls so they wouldn't get entirely worn out. Truth be told, the walk took a bit longer than I expected, but I kept going, knowing that I was close to the city.

In the distance, though, I heard a disturbance—a scream coming from a woman. I raced ahead to a house with a large clearing in the back, and also to find a woman with pale blue hair being surrounded by two hooded members of Team Riot, demanding for her to give them the Day-Care Pokémon. They noticed me and one of them had his Pokémon ready.

"You stay out of this, kid!" he spat. "You don't belong here!"

"Man, what is it with you guys?" I said as I took Pyrate's PokéBall off my belt. "Can't you just leave people alone?"

"We do it for the Pokémon, kid," he sharply replied. "We don't give a damn what happens to anyone else—or what they think."

He called out his first Pokémon—a short and baggy Scraggy. It reminded me of Kit. I called Axel out of his Ball.

"Scraggy, get him with Headbutt!" the Riot member said.

"Pyrate, shoot that away with Power Gem!" I countered.

The guy's Scraggy didn't seem well-trained at all. Pyrate had no problem stalling the Fighting-type with his bright stones, sending the Scraggy back to where he started.

"Now, get him with Ember!"

Before the Riot member could come up with a counter-call, Pyrate had blazed the Scraggy, knocking him out with ease. A very easy victory.

The Riot member groaned harshly. "This isn't over, kid!" he snarled as he summoned his fainted Scraggy back. He swapped PokéBalls and called out his next Pokémon, one I don't recall seeing. It had red eyes and was entirely shadowy, save that ominous mask it clutched with his… tail…?

"Yamask, use Night Shade!"

"Axel, dodge and use Ember again!"

Yamask was certainly an interesting Pokémon, for I couldn't see its attack. However, Pyrate still dodged, seemingly to avoid whatever it is he saw that I couldn't. He shot out with a roll and fired another stream of embers at the (apparent) Ghost-type. I wasn't sure if it was an extra strong hit or just flat out weak (or perhaps both?), but Axel managed to K.O. the member's Yamask in one hit. What disappointing action.

The Riot member swore loudly as he threw a small amount of prize money in my face. I look down at the fallen bills and coins, slightly confused at myself. I laughed a little.

"Prize money?" I questioned. "Let me guess, you're feeling nice today?"

This guy obviously wasn't happy that I beat him so easily. His face was red like a Tamato Berry. "We're Trainers. We take pride in that and accept some of its rules."

"Heh… most interesting thing I've heard all day," I said to myself, but loud enough to hear him as I counted the money in my hands to mess with him.

"Man, you're such a wimp!" the other Riot member said, another male. I paid attention to his appearance—he had long red hair just like the other member. I remember when I was fighting Team Riot in Gloride City; the members there had red hair like that too. This gave me the assumption that all of the lesser members had matching hairstyles as well as uniforms, but I thought it was strange. "I mean, really, how weak can you get?" the member continued. "You got destroyed in three hits _by a_ _kid._"

The members switched places and the second member took his first PokéBall off his belt and summoned the Pokémon inside out—a female Nidoran. Pyrate was still out and ready for battle.

"Alright, Axel, use Tackle and Smokescreen!"

"Dodge, Nidoran!"

Pyrate was way too fast for the inexperienced Nidoran. I actually felt bad for her. Pyrate literally ran circles around her, engulfing her in the thick smoke. I had him use Power Gem, which was forceful enough to blow her out of the cloud. However, she still got up. I was oddly proud of my opponent's Pokémon standing back up to fight some more.

The Riot member scowled. "That was a cheap shot!"

"Yeah, yeah. Axel, use Ember."

"Nidoran, use Scratch!"

Nidoran advanced on Axel from the dispersing Smokescreen and managed to dodge the Ember attack. Before he had the chance to dodge, Axel was slashed the opposing Nidoran.

I groaned before commanding, "Use Tackle, Axel!"

Nidoran was still making her attack on Axel, but he managed to dodge with a burst of speed, rushing back behind her and slamming right into her, knocking her away again.

"Now quickly, Axel, use Ember," I cheered.

Axel shot another stream of Embers at the Nidoran, knocking her out before she could get back up. The Riot member lifted his head back in shame and groaned. He called back his fallen Nidoran and sent out his second and final Pokémon—a Woobat.

I thought that I could probably just one-hit-K.O. this Woobat with Power Gem, but I wanted to try something different. So I sent out Archer for battle and called Axel back.

Upon training him, I learned that Archer's moveset consisted of Peck, Poison Sting, Focus Energy, and Double Kick. I started the battle with Peck, sending Archer charging at the Flying-type Pokémon. The Woobat used Gust, but Archer was strong enough to break through the wind attack. Archer continued his assault and dug his horn into the bat, knocking it away. The member ordered it to get back up and use Confusion, but Archer was much faster. I had him use Peck again, which seemed enough to make the Woobat faint.

The man shook his head in shame and angrily summoned his Pokémon back. He tossed me a small amount of prize money in a fit of shame like the first guy and said nothing to me.

"Oh yeah, _I'm _a wimp?" the first member guarding the blue-haired woman said. "You lost too!"

"Hey, at least my battle lasted more than 10 seconds," the second member replied. "Plus, I'm a higher ranked member than you, so stuff it!"

"Higher rank?" the other member argued. "We're both Juniors! There is no higher rank other than Moderator! Being in the team longer than me don't mean anything! Don't make yourself sound so tough to cover your mistakes!"

The second member ignored him by waving his hand and changed the subject. "Shut up, we'll argue about this later, we need to do something about this. This guy wiped us both out! How are we gonna explain this to the boss?! He's gonna murder us!" The guy was frantic.

"Calm down, calm down," the other replied. "We'll just have to go with it for now. But for now, we need to _get out of here!"_

The two members raced for the gate, not too far from the house. Before he went too far, one of them turned to me as he rushed away.

"We'll get you for this!" he warned. "The riot's gonna start soon! We're gonna make you never want to smile again!" And then he went out of sight.

The woman they tried to rob had taken a deep breath of relief as she put a hand to her chest and relaxed herself.

"You alright, miss?" I asked her.

She nodded. "Yes… thank you…" She paused for a moment as she caught her breath and cleared her throat. "Thank you very much… I really don't know how I can repay you… Those Team Riot members… they tried to take away the Pokémon left at my Day Care… I mean, who would do such a thing?!"

"Wait…" I said, thinking for a moment. "This is _your_ Day Care?"

The woman smiled. "Mm-hmm. My grandparents built it, passed it on to my parents, who passed it on to me. I raise it with my younger brother, but he went out for the night…"

"So you must be Aimee, the Gym Leader!"

The woman seemed pleased at my knowledge. "That's right!" she said proudly. "I'm impressed, how did you know?"

"I'm Jack," I said. "I'm a friend of Joshua's from Gloride City. He told me about you. I'm training to become the Champion."

"Ohhhh!" Aimee said lightly. "No wonder why you seemed familiar! Joshua told me that you were coming!"

"Heheh, yeah, good thing I came here when I did."

"Yeah! Anyway, if you want to challenge the Gym, you seem like a worthy opponent. Come by any time you like and I'll be glad to take you on."

"Sounds like a deal," I replied.

"Well, Jack, it's not much, but you like you've been walking a while. If you like, I can prepare a place to spend the night tonight in my home."

I felt relieved. "Sounds good to me! Where's your house?"

Aimee just stood there with a smile and nodded a little to the house behind us. "Welcome home," she said quietly.

"Oh," I said, slightly embarrassed. "Seems convenient."

"Well, we couldn't just leave the Pokémon alone at night, so why not? I never really liked living in the city anyway. It makes me feel comfortable living outside like here. Anyway, come inside! I'll make you a meal and prepare a room for you."

"Hey, thanks!" I happily replied.

Aimee repaid me with her generosity, although she didn't need to repay me at all. She welcomed me inside, where the first room was a waiting room with a counter in back with a door that led to the backyard. The house had a small perimeter but was several stories tall. I prepared myself a bath while Aimee worked in the kitchen preparing a stew. Yes, stew is my favorite food. It's awesome. Her stew reminded me of my mom's at home.

I slept alone in a spare guest room while my Pokémon slept in a room with all the other Pokémon left at the Day Care. I really liked being in this place. It made me feel just like I was at home. Even if I wasn't tired at all, I would've fallen asleep instantly to dream about home.

-End of Entry-

_This is the unfortunate but inevitable end of my increased activity, but the upside is that this is the last chapter I wrote in 2011. Chapter 9 was written a couple months ago._

_I don't like this chapter. This route sucks. At least the next one has a side location (despite the fact that you can't see the region). And Nidoran isn't even in the BW2dex, lolhack._

_Maore oh see openings for ye, though these sort of OC's will be a one-time deal. The character will appear in a chapter and then like die or something I dunno. But these will be Trainers that appear along the routes, and you can decide how they can interact with Jack, being friend or foe, follower or rival. Again, though, they'll only be around for one route, so don't go assuming they'll have a major role._

_Oh, by the way, I'm raving about the TR mods. :D_

_And that's all. See ya in a few days._


	9. Showtime

_Skrillex's new EP is so bad that when I listened to it, I lost 6-0 to a Poliwag on Pokémon Showdown.  
_

Pokémon Dark/Light  
Entry 9: Showtime (Watercolor City)

"We won, that's what we did."

Woke up at 9:02. I slept like a log last night; I needed that rest. Now I know what Kit feels like when he gets an idea, he gets so excited that he can hardly keep himself from banging on mine and Marley's doors at 2 in the morning. Not like that hasn't happened or anything. But that's what I was feeling like yesterday.

Anyway, it's about time to go downstairs. I searched my bag for a clean copy of my usual outfit and threw it on. Hat, jacket, bag, Pokémon, I was looking like a Trainer in no time. I jogged downstairs to hear whispers that I sensed to be just a bit unhappy, but as I came into the main part of the house, they were silenced. At a small, round table, I saw Aimee and an unfamiliar young man both seated, apparently eating cereal.

"Good morning, Jack!" Aimee said cheerfully. "Breakfast?"

Personally, I was just gonna head out to the city and get something small somewhere as Aimee's done enough already, but I was curious about the other guy. Since she offered, I swung the bag off my back and sat myself at the table, helping myself to some Pokéoats.

"Your Pokémon are outside with the Day Care Pokémon," Aimee said before I asked. "Pyrate and Nidoran get along with them well, but Pidove…"

"_IF YOU CALL ME CRAZY ONE MORE TIME, I WILL CUT YOU ALL WITH SEVIPER'S TAIL,_" I heard Hatchet shout outside.

"Um… yeah, I should've mentioned that…" I said embarrassingly.

Aimee giggled. "Don't worry about it; I've seen a lot of Pokémon like her in my time here. Oh, and this is my brother, Nic."

Nic was silent as he gave a short, nonchalant wave. He didn't seem very interested in me.

"I'm going outside," he said suddenly as he stood. Aimee and I watched silently as he slowly walked away, empty bowl in hand.

"He's in a bad mood," Aimee said after the door in the back shut. "He's angry that he wasn't here when Team Riot tried to rob us."

"Well, I mean, it happens…" I said.

"They took a Pokémon of his in the past," she said sympathetically. "He wants his revenge, so I think he's a bit jealous with you, since you were the one to take them out…"

I stopped eating my cereal; my appetite was almost entirely gone with that. "Sorry…" I said, feeling rather bad.

"Like you said, it happens," she replied. "He's not angry with you for doing the right thing, he's more angry with himself for being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Oh…" I said a bit less sadly, but still feeling bad. There was a slow pause as I had a couple more spoonfuls of Pokéoats. "I wanna go talk to him. Would he be alright with that?"

"Don't worry about him," Aimee said happily. "He can be a bit down at times, but he's an easy guy when he's not thinking about Team Riot."

I smiled as I had my last spoonfuls of cereal, making sure to drink the MooMoo Milk afterward. MooMoo Milk is the bomb. I carried my empty bowl into the kitchen sink before walking out onto the back patio, where Nic sat at a metal park table shielded by an umbrella. He only looked at me for a moment as I walked outside, not really acknowledging my existence. I sat at the table with him and we both watched the many Pokémon play. To my amusement, I saw Hatchet riding a Seviper, as other Pokémon around them made playful jabs. Hatchet eventually noticed me.

"_J—Jack! HEY! JACK! GET OVER HERE, SEVIPER AND I ARE OUTNUMBERED."_

"What are you talking about? You two are fine!"

Hatchet began giving an expected onslaught of angry remarks, but I directed my attention to Nic, who finally talked to me.

"You know what she's saying?" Nic asked me.

"Eh, pretty much. Don't ask how I can do it, though, I don't really know either."

"Hm," Nic simply said.

"_ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!"_ Hatchet yelled. _"C'MON, WE REALLY NEED YOUR HELP HERE! STUPID AXEL AND ARCHER ARE TOO BUSY PLAYING BALL WITH EVERYONE ELSE!"_

I turned to another group of Pokémon, and sure enough, Axel and Archer were playing a makeshift baseball game. Axel was the pitcher with Archer as the catcher. A Watchog was at home plate, using a big stick as a bat.

"Why don't you go play with them?" I asked.

"_THEY'RE USING ROCKS!" Hatchet said, _surprisingly fearfully.

"_You've gotta be kidding me…"_ I thought.

"So what was it like, fighting Team Riot and all?" Nic asked. He kept talking real quiet, I almost couldn't hear him.

"Oh, well…" I began, thinking of how to put it without sounding like a tough guy. "They're not THAT strong, I suppose. I fought a higher-ranked guy who put up a better fight than the others, but he was still pretty weak."

"Hm," Nic said again. "So you've had a lot more than those assholes from last night." He didn't seem too happy again. I didn't know what to reply with, for fear that the wrong thing would slip out, so I just turned again to see Watchog get a base hit. "I'm sorry for coming off as jealous or whatever, you seem like a good guy."

"It's okay," I said softly.

"I just want to protect whatever I have left to protect. This Day Care… these Pokémon entrusted to me… my sister, Aimee… they're all I have left after what they did."

"Nic, what exactly did they take from you?"

He looked at me sadly. "Sandy. My Bouffalant."

"Wow," I said. I've seen Bouffalant on TV in big-time Pokémon tournaments, shows just how tough they are.

"Yeah," he said. "I never caught anything besides her. Just… wouldn't feel right, trying to replace her." He turned back to the yard. There was another pause as we both watched the Pokémon in the spacious field.

"Sorry," I finally said. There was another few seconds of silence.

"So Aimee said you wanted to challenge the Gym?" he said, choosing not to continue the previous conversation. It caught me a bit off guard.

"Oh—uh, yeah… yeah, that was the idea."

Nic nodded. "That's fine. The Gym's out here, so we can get started whenever you're ready."

This also caught me off guard. "Wh—the Gym is _here_?"

He nodded again. "Yep. The Pokémon out here are playing right on the field."

I didn't even notice before, usually because most outdoor fields are made of dirt. But sure enough, I could see the sidelines and the PokéBall symbol formed in the middle when I started to pay attention.

"…Whoa!" I exclaimed. I haven't even walked into Watercolor City, and already I made it to the Gym, which doubles up as a house AND a day care. How 'bout that.

"So just say the word, Aimee and I will have the field cleared and ready, and we'll get going in no time."

As much as I was craving a challenging fight, I at least wanted to see Watercolor City. My Pokémon and I worked hard to travel here. If I fought Aimee now, I wouldn't even be motivated to see the city later on, I'd just wanna hurry to the next Gym.

"I'll pass for now," I replied. "I mean, I definitely want to battle, yeah, but later today after I see the city."

Nic gave his standard 'hm.' "I was hoping you'd say that. Now Aimee and I don't have to rush to get everything ready. We'll just prepare while you're out sightseeing."

"Sounds good to me," I replied. "Hey! You three! Wanna go in the city?"

"_NO WAY, MAN," _Hatchet shouted, still perched upon Seviper. _"I AM _NOT _BACKING DOWN FROM THESE LOWLIFES."_

"Whatever," I said casually. "What about you, Ax—huh?" I felt a poke at my legs and looked down to see Archer jabbing me gently with his horn.

"_I'll go if it's okay wit' yous," _Archer said. _"Best to leave Axel where he is. He's enjoying himself too much to stop."_

Half of the baseball-playing Pokémon roared into cheer as Axel had successfully struck out an opposing Timburr, who was now bashing its own block of wood on the ground in frustration. My guess is this isn't the first time Axel's gotten a K.

"You have a point," I said. Admittedly, I wanted to have some alone-time with Archer, my newest Pokémon. "Alright, let's go. See you later, Nic (to which he waved nonchalantly). See you later, guys!"

"_Bye, Jack!"_ Axel said, readying another rock launch. Hatchet probably didn't hear me, as she was handing out a good dose of shouts paired with Seviper's hiss.

I went back inside to say my temporal goodbye to Aimee and to get my bag. Never know when you'll need it; that's something I learned before becoming an official Trainer. Archer at my side, we left the house and made the short walk to the city gate, where a reception lady or something cheerfully welcomed me to the city.

Finally in the city, I realized it wasn't much of what I expected (though I hardly knew what to expect without prior knowledge of the city and without Marley or her geography book). Though it seemed like a pretty large city, it wasn't a bustling metropolis like Gloride; no tall buildings or major landmarks. The buildings all followed a similar theme: they were colored with very light, very pale colors, though each building seemed to want to be unique, as they were all painted with different colors and combinations. I bet the city would look awesome from a top-down view.

I looked at the handout I grabbed from the city gate (commonly dispensed for newcomers and tourists). The city is apparently a huge hit among artists, notably painters and sculptors and whatnot. Speaking of painting, we came across a good-sized building that looked as if entire buckets of paint were splashed on the outside walls, the various colors still pertaining to the town's pallet. There was a sign outside by its door that said "PokéPainting Studio! Come let your Pokémon show their true colors!"

"Whaddya think?" I said to Archer. "Wanna try it?"

"Well, I suppose," Archer replied. "We're here anyway."

We went inside and walked up to the counter, where a rather colorful character greeted us. She had loud red hair and wore a golden dress with crystal-clear white lining.

"Hey guys, welcome to PokéPainting Studio!" she said enthusiastically. "How may I help you today?"

"Uh, yeah, what's this place about, exactly?" I said. The sign only gave a hint of what it could be.

"In this studio, you, the Trainer, will sit in a chair, while your Pokémon, Nidoran for example, will be painting a picture of you, or vice versa. An artist's true emotions are brought into their works, so your bond as Trainer and Pokémon is reflected upon the painting."

"Very interesting," I said. I turned to Archer, who had perched himself on my shoulder to see the lady. "Whaddyou say, Archer, wanna give it a go?"

"_I don't think I'm a very good painter…"_

I laughed a bit. "Aw, don't worry about that. You just paint; no one cares if you can't make it look good."

"_Well I suppose we could try it…"_

I nodded. "We'll do it, and we'll paint each other."

The lady nodded as well. "Alright, sounds great. The fee for two paintings is 5 Pokédollars, and I'll get you both an easel and supplies."

I reached in my money pouch for 5 singles and handed them to the lady. She then deposited them into a box before leading us to an unoccupied easel and stool (there were quite a few people and Pokémon here already). The easel was laughably small, but good enough for Archer's tiny self. She gave a proportional pallet loaded with different paints and left us alone to work. I felt a little bad for him being unable to hold a brush with his hand, but he hardly struggled with his mouth.

"_I've never done anything like this…" _he spoke to my surprise.

"Heh, well I didn't expect there to be many paintbrushes in the woods."

Archer hesitated to begin his painting, but seemed to get the hang of it when he finally put his brush to the paper. Soon, he was stroking the brush swiftly and gracefully, as if he's made a hundred paintings already.

"Having fun?" I asked.

"_Shhh,"_ Archer said, colorful specks of paint splattered on his face.

The colorful lady from before came up to us. "How's it going, you two?"

"_All done,"_ Archer said proudly after he carelessly dropped the paintbrush on the floor.

The woman moved in close to examine the painting. "Wow, nice job, Nidoran! Your relationship with your Trainer is new, but you seem to be having fun with him."

"Wait, how do you know that?" I asked her.

She giggled. "I told you, didn't I? An artist's true colors are expressed in their works."

I walked over to Archer's painting. Okay, so it didn't look that great, but for a little porcupine that's lived its whole life in the wild, it really wasn't that bad. I let Archer know that.

"_Yeh think so?"_

"Of course!" I said happily.

"_Heh,"_ Archer said. _"Thanks, Jack."_

We switched our previous places as the colorful lady gave me a much more suitable station to work with. Since Nidoran's a pretty small Pokémon, there wasn't much to draw, so I wanted to make it as perfect as possible… but art was never my forte.

"_I'll try not to laugh,"_ Archer said when he looked at my drawing.

"You're so kind," I said jokingly.

The colorful lady came up to us and looked at my painting this time. She giggled a bit. "Well, it's not the outcome that matters, it's the thought put into it. Even if you didn't make it as good as you wanted it to be, you definitely tried. Right?"

"Yeah."

"It's a very basic characteristic shared by some of the most successful Trainers in the world: they work as hard as their Pokémon. You seem to have that same trait."

"You think so?"

"I _know_ so," she said happily. "I know my art well."

I chuckled. "Well, thanks for everything, Archer and I had a lot of fun."

"No problem, Trainer! I hope you and your Pokémon are developing a deeper bond now."

I turned to Archer, who nodded at me with a smile. I nodded back. Her wish was granted.

"Be seeing you!" I said to the colorful lady before walking outside. Upon asking him, Archer said he enjoyed the place. Good to finally catch a Pokémon that can like me instantly, unlike Hatchet. Still, life moves on, like how we carried on further into Watercolor City. On the east side of the city, we managed to find the Pokémon Center, still that deep red-orange amidst all the undersaturated colors of the city. However, Archer said he was in perfect condition, so we ignored it for now as I marked its location on my Pokévice. Soon, we came across a diner with a very luring aroma surrounding it. I started to feel pretty hungry at this point.

"Hungry?" I asked Archer.

"_I suppose I could go for a bite."_

We went inside, and sure enough, the place was filled to the brim. It took around 15 minutes just to get seated, but the charming smell was too alluring to leave alone. I asked for a Pokémon-friendly table and was seated into a small booth. I definitely wasn't the only person who brought their Pokémon with them. Archer and I were both given menus (which is hilarious because he can't read), and when given the option, I asked for a cherry Poké Cola for me and a fresh Lemonade for Archer. A couple minutes later, drink served, the waitress asked for our orders. I asked for the deluxe cheeseburger, but didn't exactly know what to get Archer…

"He's a vegan, so what would you suggest for him?"

"Well, we have the 'corny casserole', which is a huge hit among all vegans that come in here."

"_What's a casserole?"_ Archer asked.

"You'll figure it out," I told him. "I'll get that for him, then. Thanks a lot."

The waitress thanked us as well and she took our menus. I taught Archer what a place like this is made for and what lemonade was, as he knew neither. He basically has zero knowledge of human life, apparently, unlike Hatchet, who knew enough to hate us.

"_How long've yous been traveling, Jack?"_ Archer asked.

"Um… not long, actually," I said, trying to think about the exact date I left (you think that I'd have that memorized, this being a journal and all). "It's hardly been a couple weeks."

"_That's interesting. How far have you come?"_

"Ever heard of Sunrise Town?"

"_Afraid not."_

"Oh. Well, it's quite a ways down south, down on the peninsula… know where _that_ is?"

"_I don't even know what a peninsula is. I've spent my whole life on Route 60."_

"Seriously?" I asked. Archer nodded. "Oh, we'll you'll be in for a big surprise if we travel the whole region, and then some. The world is a great place." I took out my Pokévice and searched for a satellite-view of Falloh. Though I only found the main island, it was good enough to show him.

"Just look at that," I said, showing him the image on the Pokévice.

Archer didn't seem too impressed. _"Wh… what is it?"_

"It's Falloh. The land we've been traveling on. All that brownish-stuff, well that's the land."

He still wasn't moved. _"Doesn't look very big."_

Stupid technology. I took the Pokévice, looking for a more detailed map with the locations labeled—got it. I showed him again.

"This big, red square here," I said, pointing to Watercolor City _(think of DPPt's map)_, "we're here. That yellow-ish strip of land is Route 60, and all the way down here (I ran my finger along the roads leading to Sunrise Town), that's where I came from."

Archer seemed a bit more interested. Finally, I was getting to him. _"So wait a minute… you say this road here is Route 60…"_

"Yep."

"_And if it took an entire day to walk it…"_

"Yep."

"_Then the world is a pretty big place."_

"This is just one region," I reminded. "There's many other lands in the world, not just Falloh."

"_Wow. Very interesting."_

"It's not an endless world, admittedly, but we're not even the tiniest speck in the eyes of the world."

"_Eyes of the world?"_

"Nevermind," I said, chuckling a bit. Guess he doesn't know what metaphors are either.

Soon, our lunches came, hot and ready. Archer let me have a forkful of his casserole while I gave him an onion ring. Both were the bomb, no doubt about it. It's no wonder why this place is so busy. After a good amount of time eating quietly, we got up and left, but not before leaving money for the order and a well-balanced tip for the waitress. Walking outside, my itch for a challenge was raging right about now, but I put Archer first.

"Wanna explore the city some more, or do you wanna go back and have a battle?"

"_Who are we battling?"_

"Aimee, the day care lady. She's a Gym Leader."

Archer looked at me expectantly. I keep forgetting that he knows little about Trainers.

"You know what the Champion is, right?"

"_Yeah, the Nidoking told me about it once or twice."_

"Well, in order to challenge the Champion, and maybe even becoming Champion yourself, you have to defeat 8 strong Trainers known as Gym Leaders. They're scattered all over the region in most major cities."

"…_Man, yous shoulda said so earlier! I wanna get you named as Champion right now, and you're making me paint pictures instead!"_

I laughed, slightly embarrassed. "Alright, let's go back, then."

We stopped at the Pokémon Center to get a couple of Super Potions, just in case. I knew not of what Aimee used, so I should be careful of that. After a moderate walk, afternoon still quite young, we were back at the Day Care. Aimee and Nic were inside conversing on a couch in the living room.

"I'm back," I said happily.

"Um… go outside," Aimee said a bit ominously.

"…What happened?" I asked, being a bit confused and worried.

"Just go outside…" she said with that same ominous tone. Archer and I looked at each other a bit strangely, but no use refusing. We went in the back… to see every Pokémon surrounding Hatchet and Seviper knocked out. I was in shock.

"What… did you do!?" I cried to Hatchet.

"_WE WON, THAT'S WHAT WE DID," _she shouted, high fiving Seviper using his tail and her wing. The two were noticeably battered.

"Oh, good grief…" I said, hand on the back of my neck. "Well great, now we have to walk back to the Pokémon Center to get you healed up. I can't fight Aimee with a weakened Pokémon."

"_Actually…"_ Hatchet said. She then closed her eyes and looked relaxed. When she did, she glowed with a faint aura, and her wounds healed in an instant. _"I got stronger from fighting these losers and learned Roost. Yeah. You're welcome."_

I rolled my eyes. Oh well, at least she gained something other than a bigger ego. Aimee and Nic walked outside.

"Uh, sorry about the mess…" I said to them.

Aimee laughed a bit. "Don't worry about it. Pokémon will be Pokémon. Things like this happen every now and then. Anyway, the field's all clean and ready to go, just as long as you are."

"I'm more than ready, I'm excited," I said happily.

"That's great," Aimee said. She then called to the Pokémon on the field. "Alright, everyone! The battle's starting now, so sit back and relax on the sides."

The Pokémon on the field scattered. Some continued to play in a separate area while most others gathered on the sides as an audience. If I were to have an audience, I'd definitely prefer this over the stadium in Gloride City. That amount of people is just… too pressuring.

Axel came up to me. _"Are we fighting now?"_

"Yep," I said. "But not before I heal you a bit."

Though Axel wasn't fighting Pokémon like Hatchet was, he still seemed worn from playing all day. I gave him a couple Leppa Berries to munch on as I sprayed him down with my last regular Potion. He was good as new in no time. Meanwhile, Aimee took a PokéBall and released the Pokémon inside: a Lillipup.

"Lillipup, I need you to watch the house while I take on a challenger."

The Lillipup barked happily and dashed into the house. Aimee turned to me, already finished healing Axel.

"Ready?" she asked.

"As I'll ever be."

Aimee nodded and started walking down to the field. Nic and I did the same, as Nic was apparently the ref, noted by the red and green flags in his hands. I returned all three of my Pokémon and turned my cap backwards when I got to my end of the field. It's Showtime.

Nic cleared his throat and raised the flags. "This is an officially regulated Pokémon Battle between Jack Dawn, the challenger, and Aimee Shova, the Gym Leader of Watercolor City. The challenger can use as many Pokémon as he wishes and both Trainers and can freely use items. The battle will immediately commence when both Trainers have summoned their Pokémon.

Aimee decided to take the tip-off. "I choose you, Dunsparce!"

Out of the blue PokéBall came a yellow and blue snake-like Pokémon, floating just a couple inches above ground, Dunsparce. I've never seen this Pokémon honestly, so I quickly scanned it with my Pokédex before sending out my own Pokémon.

"Alright, Archer, let's do this," I said confidently, proudly tossing the PokéBall up in the air. Out came the male Nidoran, ready for his first Gym Battle.

"Dunsparce are slow, so you can make the first move, Jack," Aimee called out.

Wonder why she'd tell me his weakness. Anyway, I called for Archer's Double Kick, as Dunsparce is apparently a Normal-type Pokémon. When I did, Aimee called for something called Glare. Dunsparce's eyes glowed red, and shot out something that looked like heat vision or something. Archer stopped charging when the attack quickly made contact. He looked like he was struggling.

"Archer! What happened!?" I shouted to him.

"_She… paralyzed me… I can't move…"_ Archer struggled.

Not good. Paralysis is supposed to greatly reduce someone's speed, sometimes rendering them entirely incapable of moving. So THAT'S why Aimee wanted me to know about Dunsparce's low speed, to catch me off guard and cripple Archer.

"Now, Dunsparce, let's use Return."

"Double Kick again, Archer! Can you do it?"

Archer worked harder than usual, but he managed to dash over to Dunsparce, who was charging herself. Aimee quickly took control again.

"Quick, Dunsparce, Defense Curl!"

Just as Archer was about to make his attack, Dunsparce curled up into a ball (save his spiked tail). Two consecutive hits from a Fighting attack were strong enough to damage him enough to even get him out of his pose, but Dunsparce's move definitely softened the impact. The Pokémon spectators cheered.

"Good, Archer! Try it again!"

"Dunsparce, Return."

"_Oh great,"_ I thought, expecting her to call her Pokémon back, but I was wrong. Apparently, she called for a move named Return. Huh. Dunsparce bowed in a graceful fashion before making a charge onto Archer. Archer definitely wanted to move, but paralysis got the best of him, and he was entirely helpless as Dunsparce crashed into him, knocking him way back. Cheering again.

I groaned. That paralysis needs to go… so I figure…

"C'mere, Archer," I called, getting something out of my bag. He managed to struggle his way back to me, and I took out a yellow spraybottle from my bag: a Paralyz Heal.

Aimee chuckled humorlessly. "Dunsparce, return," I heard her say, thinking that she was about to attack as I sprayed Archer with the medicine. But isn't that against the rules…? Nope, I was wrong in one thought. She wasn't attacking us after all, she switched Dunsparce out this time. By the time I was finished, she had sent out her second Pokémon: Audino. The Audino looked graceful, waiting for Nidoran to strike.

"Okay, Archer, use Peck!"

"Audino, Attract!"

"Crapcrapcrap, DODGE!"

After just coming out of paralysis, infatuation is NOT something we wanted. Audino shot out a heart-shaped ring of energy, which Archer had just barely managed to avoid by jumping away.

"Good, now use Double Kick!"

"Audino, Yawn!"

Still up in the air but ready to strike again, Archer managed to get a foot on Audino, but she had simultaneously shot out a pink cloud of energy from her mouth, the ever-bothersome Yawn attack. Archer was knocked away from Audino a bit and began to sway around slowly.

"_Jack… I feel… so tired…"_

"Don't fall asleep just yet, Archer, get'r with another Double Kick!"

Archer, eyes only half-open, started running slowly, doing his best to get one last attack before Yawn's effects took full control. Audino was ordered to dodge and use something called Wish. Since Archer was moving slower than a Shuckle, Audino only needed to step aside to dodge the attack. She then glowed with a faint, golden aura. Archer, on the other hand, crashed onto the ground, now asleep from Yawn.

"_Down!"_ a Pokémon hollered out, while several others cheered. I felt a bead of sweat trickle down my face.

"Use Return, Audino!" Aimee called.

I didn't give a counter-command. What's the point? The only thing I can do is hope Archer can withstand as many attacks as he could, and wake up in the process. Still, though, I really wonder what kind of sleep Archer must be put in, as he stayed dead asleep after Audino charged into him.

"Again!" Aimee cheered without batting an eye.

"_Wake up, Archer… Please wake up…"_ I thought with all my hope. Crossing my fingers, I was hoping that maybe the second impact would jolt him into consciousness… instead, it rendered him KO'd. Fantastic.

"_Yeeeaaaahhh!" _another spectator cheered. _"Aimee's the best!"_

After returning Archer and putting his ball back, I took off the middle PokéBall and tossed it valiantly. "Go, Hatchet!"

Out of the shining light emerged my great Pidove, Hatchet. Some of the spectators cheered while there were clearly negative remarks made about her. Clearly, she's made an impression in this place.

Aimee smiled, looking like she had another trick up her sleeve. "Come back, Audino," she said, holding out a blue PokéBall. Swapping it for another, she sent out a familiar face: Dunsparce again.

"_Aww, too scared to fight?"_ Hatchet said in a baby voice. _"Whatever, at least I have SOME fresh meat."_

Dunsparce was silent, stoic even. He didn't want to play Hatchet's game it seems, which wouldn't make her happy either.

"Okay, Dunsparce, use Rollout!"

"_Use WHAT?!"_

Dunsparce quickly curled into a ball and took off, headed right for Hatchet. I couldn't see her expression, but she definitely didn't like that call… I wonder why…? But for now, all I could tell her was to dodge, which she did by jumping with her wings, but hesitantly.

"_Whoa, Jack, send me back! I can't do this!" _Hatchet was shouting franticly.

"Are you seriously afraid of Dunsparce?" I asked. "I didn't know you were afraid of anything!"

"_EXCEPT FOR THAT ROCK MOVE! I—WHOA!" _Hatchet was shouting again, but our conversation drowned out Aimee's voice, who must've ordered Rollout again, as he spun right past Hatchet, barely missing her.

"Hatchet, just calm down," I said, keeping my cool in a warm state. "You have wings. Use them."

"Again, Dunsparce!"

Dunsparce was still rolling from the second Rollout, and he swerved viciously, picking up speed as he charged again, tearing the earth underneath. When did he get this kind of buff, anyway?

Hatchet was fortunate to float above Dunsparce in just the nick of time. Realizing he failed to make contact again, Dunsparce slid and spun as he uncurled himself, looking up at the airborne Hatchet. Aimee asked for him to use Glare, but I was done letting her have her way in this battle. I made a gamble and had Hatchet counterattack with Air Cutter. The attack went according to plan, as I assumed the razor-sharp gust would slice the energy beam up, rendering the attack useless while adding a bit of damage to Dunsparce. Aimee's previous look of confidence diminished into noticeable anger or disappointment. She knew I wasn't gonna make this easy for her, so long as Hatchet keeps flying.

"Okay, Dunsparce," she said, a bit quieter. "Let's try Return."

"Get back on land, Hatchet," I said calmly. "Use Quick Attack to do it."

Dunsparce worked hard to launch himself in the air, but I knew exactly how I was gonna avoid it. Hatchet swerved around the oncoming Dunsparce as she touched land safely. Dunsparce, on the other hand, was rendered helpless, as his wings were far too small to keep him up.

"Top it off with Air Cutter, Hatchet!" I said proudly.

"Oh no! Defense Curl, Dunsparce!"

Hatchet had sent another whistling wind at Dunsparce. Though he curled up to soften the attack, he couldn't do anything to the inevitable impact he made on the ground. He uncurled himself, knocked out.

"_Whoooaaaa!" _someone shouted. _"She actually did it!"_

There were quite a few cheers, but several were noticeably quiet. Must be the Pokémon she beat up.

Aimee returned her Dunsparce and sighed. "I'll give you credit for outsmarting me like that," she called to me. "But don't underestimate my precious Audino!"

The blue PokéBall was thrown once again, and the seemingly kind Audino stepped out. I've seen her tricks, though. Hatchet turned to me.

"_Keep me in, she won't be able to hit me with Attract,"_ she said.

I nodded. "Okay."

"Audino, use Yawn!"

"Don't let that hit you, Hatchet! Avoid it with Quick Attack!"

Hatchet didn't seem ready to fall asleep either. She was more than fast enough to slalom around the energy cloud and slam into Audino's left.

Aimee looked angrier than ever. "Wanna go offensive, then? Use Return, Audino."

"Quick Attack!"

Audino wasn't knocked too far away, so the rush didn't last too long. However, Audino's Return was insanely powerful compared to Hatchet's Quick Attack. Hatchet's attack rebounded entirely, sending her far away.

Hatchet coughed up a bit of dust and brushed herself with her wings. _"Whoa… Jack, we can't risk any hits like that again. That hurt."_

"I hear ya, Hatchet," I replied. "Quick, get her with Air Cutter."

"Audino, use Wish," Aimee said, much less fiercely than before.

Hatchet whipped up another razor-sharp wind, which Audino didn't even care to dodge. It confused me, but that golden aura from must mean something…

…

Whoa!

After a short pause, she was fully healed. Anything we had tacked onto her previously was gone without a trace. I must've missed that when she used it earlier.

"Now, Audino," Aimee said confidently, "use Return again."

"Hatchet, fly up and use Growl!"

"_What?! No!"_ Hatchet said as she upped herself above Audino.

"Do it, Hatchet!"

"RETURN!" Aimee cried again.

Hatchet put her wings to her face in humiliation, but knowing Audino was quickly making way to her…

"_DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!"_ she bellowed.

Audino was caught entirely off guard, even stopping her attack completely, which reversed all momentum she gained, forcing her to fall. Despite our success, however, nearly everyone around the field was laughing senselessly. I'll have to apologize to Hatchet for making her do that, but still…

"Good, now get her with Air Cutter!"

Doing her best to retaliate from that shameful moment, she threw another cutting wind at Audino, who couldn't do anything to dodge. The wind had slashed her just as she crashed onto the ground, likely doing extra damage.

"NOW! Finish her with Quick Attack!"

"Audino, WISH!"

Audino squeezed her eyes shut, either to put the move up or to keep herself from watching Hatchet dive bomb right onto her. Audino gave a sharp cry as Hatchet slammed right into her. This looked like the end.

"Ye-heah!" I shouted, proudly jumping up with a fist in the air. "Great hit, Hatchet!"

Aimee sighed and shook her head. "Return, Audino."

…I did not expect that at all. With her short arms, Audino threw Hatchet off of and brutally slammed her. Seriously, she was still up after that?

"I told you not to underestimate my Audino, Jack," Aimee said, smiling in a devious sort of manner.

I gritted my teeth as Hatchet flopped toward my side. How could I be so stupid?!

"Now, finish her, Audino! Use Return!"

Hatchet was already lying on the ground, nearly fainted. By the time I'd command her something, and by the time she'd get ready to use it, it'd be too late…

And there she goes. Hatchet tumbled away, taking the full force of the attack. I put a hand to my face in shame. I know the battle wasn't lost, as I still have Axel, but I felt ridiculous for letting my carelessness allow Hatchet to lose.

"_CHAAAAAARGE!" _I heard Hatchet bellow right as I saw her use Quick Attack. Wait, how did she even manage to stay up…? Well, whatever it was, it certainly surprised Audino as well, as she could hardly even see the bird before she was hit… and subsequently knocked out.

"You—but—how…" Aimee stuttered.

"…Gonna be honest, I'm a little lost myself…" I said, shrugging.

Nic chuckled, smiling in a surprised fashion. He pointed my flag to his side. "Audino is now unable to battle, which leaves Aimee without any remaining Pokémon. The winner is Jack Dawn, the challenger!"

Amongst the ecstatic Pokémon, I was even more confused. "You only have 2 Pokémon…?" I called to her, admittedly disappointed.

Aimee shrugged. "Kinda sorta. These two babies are the ones I fight with, anyway. You may be a bit disappointed that Joshua had more, but these are very rare and very exceptional Pokémon at this point. The Pokémon League limits me to just these two."

"Huh," I said. I didn't even know the League could even do that. I thought they just supported Gyms.

Suddenly, I felt feathers brush my face. It was Hatchet, descending from flight onto my shoulder.

"_Did you see that? I totally smoked this Gym."_

"Okay, hang on just a second," I said. "How in the world did you withstand that Return?"

Hatchet sighed, shaking her head. _"You know, sometimes I just don't know about you… I learned Roost. You seriously forgot about that?"_

…Wow. And at that moment, Axel released himself from his PokéBall.

"_You did NOT just win,"_ he said grumpily.

I laughed nervously as I rubbed my neck. "Heh… sorry, dude, things happened kinda fast…"

"_Hatchet, if you make the finishing move one more time, I will fry you where you stand."_

"…_wait, what?" _Hatchet said.

"_But congrats on the win, guys!"_ Axel continued, rapidly changing his mood. _"Looks like you don't have much more catching up to do!"_

"_You keep saying that like I haven't done that already," _Hatchet remarked.

"_Yep. 'Cuz ya haven't! Hahahaha!"_ Axel let himself back in the ball before Hatchet could reply. He knew she would hate that.

Aimee and Nic walked over to me. "Well, Jack," Aimee began. "It looks like you're truly the better Trainer here." She opened a metal box that Nic was holding, and inside was a perfectly circular badge. She took it and held it up. "This is the symbol of defeating me, the Gym Leader of Watercolor City," she said as she placed it in my palm, "the Simple Badge."

I laughed a bit from excitement as I closed my palm. One Gym Badge is pretty cool, but two is… totally awesome! That's ¼ of the Gym Badges of the region, making me feel even closer to my goal. I looked at Hatchet, still on my shoulder. She looked at me, and we both smiled.

"LILLYYYYYYYY!" we all heard. Out of the house came Lillipup, charging over to Aimee franticly.

"Lillipup!" she said, picking up the small dog. "What on earth is wrong!"

"Lilli-lilli-lil-pup-pup!" Lillipup shouted.

Lillipup was shouting about white-clothed people with white hats and a red mark… which means…

"TEAM RIOT!" I shouted, dashing straight for the house. Nic did the same, along with Aimee after she put down the Lillipup and asking everyone to quickly hide.

Out in the front of the house… there they were. Two members stood beside a shorter woman dressed differently than any Riot member I've seen so far. She was dressed in a white skirt, while everyone else wears a simple shirt. Though it boasted Team Riot's mark on the front, she didn't wear a bandanna like everyone else. She didn't wear anything on her head, save her hair.

"What do YOU want?" I said menacingly.

She brushed a lock of black hair away in an unfriendly way. "So, this is the kid? The one that beat you raw and ripe?"

"And I'm ready to do it again," I replied smartly. "You'll need an army to get past me."

The woman smiled. "So simple. We already HAVE gotten past you. My friends are bagging the Pokémon as we speak."

Aimee gasped. "No!" she cried, rushing back to the Pokémon out back.

"Nic, you go help her, I can handle these guys," I said to him. A bit saddened, he nodded, though at least he won't miss all the action today.

The woman kept smiling. "Tough kid indeed. This calls for some research…"

She took out a Pokévice for who knows what. She completely tuned herself out of the scene as her lackeys took control.

"We'll handle you for now," one of them said surprisingly confidently for someone that got whooped yesterday.

They challenged me to a double battle, starting with Woobat and Scraggy on the opposing side. Sadly, I had no chance to heal Archer, so I resorted to using Axel and Hatchet. The two Riot members didn't seem to have improved at all. I breezed by them even more easily than last night. Axel got the Woobat with Power Gem and Hatchet got Scraggy with Air Cutter. No contest. The members sent out their second set of Pokémon: Nidoran and Yamask. Since they were at a smaller disadvantage than the previous two, these Pokémon didn't go down so easily, but they were still as weak as before. A couple of hits to both of them was plenty. Axel and Hatchet didn't even sweat.

"Um… we're done," one of the members said hesitantly to their leader. She reluctantly averted her trance to scold them.

"Really, already?" she said, disappointed. "Hardly gave me enough time to do my research."

"I'm… sorry…" the same member said.

"_We're _sorry," the other member replied.

The captain changed her evil look to a calmer face as she looked at her Pokévice again. "Heh, it's not so bad. Just means I'll have to have a little fun… there's not much data anyway, though I did trace a few vital connections… Maybe I should cut you guys a little slack."

"Th—thank you, captain," one of the members said.

What was this person looking up, anyway? …Me?

"Are you talking about me?"

"No one's talking to you," she said, looking away from her Pokévice only to say that.

"But I'm talking to _you_," I retaliated. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

The captain rolled her eyes. "Tell him, boys."

"Team Riot's getting a great number of Pokémon for an even greater goal!" one of the members said excitedly. "Can't wait to see the look on your face when you see what you've been messing with!"

"I'm sure," I said sarcastically. They won't even have a goal when I'm through with them.

"Captain Seleste!" another male member shouted from the house, several others following him out. Rudely shoving me out of the way, he ran up to the woman.

"We've done all we can," another member said quickly. "The Gym Leader and her brother are too much for us."

"How many Pokémon did you get?" Seleste asked.

He sighed. "We were lucky just to get a couple…"

"The stupid Gym Leader and her brother hid them all," a woman cut in.

Seleste turned around and walked a couple steps forward. She covered her face with her hands and exhaled deeply before slowly turning around.

"You're _extremely_ lucky that you follow the nicest moderator on the team," she said with her eyes closed and arms crossed. "Couple of the others would've killed you where you stand."

"I'm extremely sorry, sir…" the guy that shoved me said.

"Save it," Seleste said sharply. "Let's leave. This place isn't useable."

He nodded and called out a smaller form of Kadabra. The group of Riots placed their hands on each other like a web.

"Abra, Teleport!" the member said. And just like on Route 68, they were gone in a flash before I could even reach them.

Aimee and Nic came outside, out of breath. "They're… they're gone…?" Aimee asked.

I nodded sadly. "…Yeah."

Aimee put a hand to her sweating forehead. "They took a few Pokémon… they weren't even mine… I don't know how I can explain this to their Trainers… those poor Pokémon…"

"…Sorry," I said.

"For what?" Aimee asked, confused.

"I let them get away."

"Jack… you stopped them from taking all these Pokémon!"

"It's not enough," I said, disappointed.

Aimee sighed. "Jack, come with me."

I was a bit confused, but seeing her walk in the house already, I chose not to argue. She led me back into the backyard, where the Pokémon all slowly crept out.

"You can all come out!" Aimee called. "They're gone!"

From under the deck, inside the bushes, the storm cellar in the corner of the yard, and even some quickly burrowed holes, the Day Care Pokémon all poured out. They all gave relieved sounds to see that none of their friends were taken.

"Eevee, come on out!" Aimee called again.

Out of the mass of Pokémon came a puppy-like Pokémon with brown fur, except for the tip of its tail, which was tan, along with the mane under his neck. Marley thought highly of this Pokémon, being one of her all-time favorites.

"Eevee, Eevee!" it cried.

"Eevee, girl, I want you to go with Jack on his journey," Aimee said to the little Pokémon.

"Wait, what?" I said, surprised.

"Eevee, Eevee!" she cried again, dashing up to me and then running in circles around me.

"Yep, I want you to keep that Eevee," Aimee said. "It's both a thank-you and a parting gift from me."

"But… I…" I started. I didn't expect to be given a Pokémon like this so suddenly. Especially not something as rare as an Eevee…

"Just take it," she said. "Seriously, she'll be so much better off training with you."

"Well… okay, I mean, if you really want me to…"

"You don't want to keep her?"

"No, nothing like that," I said quickly. "I just didn't expect this, that's all."

Aimee giggled again. "Well, you kept Team Riot from stealing all these day care Pokémon not once, but twice! I have to thank you somehow."

"Well, alright, then…" I said, kneeling down to the hyperactive Eevee. "Hm. Thanks, Aimee. Now, what to name you…"

"_Awesome," _Hatchet said, still perched on my shoulder. I'm surprised that this is the first time hearing her in this entire exchange. _"You finally get yourself another female Pokémon, and she can't even stand still for two seconds."_

"Heh," I chuckled, watching Eevee dance madly _(self-pun, heh) _around me. "I actually like this about her. She seems like she'll liven us all up."

"_She looks like she overdosed on caffine," _Hatchet said. _"Why not name her Java for that?"_

"Java…" I said thoughtfully. "…I like that name a lot. Great idea, Hatchet."

Hatchet brushed her face with her left wing, giving a prideful "Hm!".

"I'm gonna name you Java," I said to Eevee.

"_Java! Java! Java likes the name Java!"_ Java said, constantly repeating her name as she danced around.

"So, Jack," Aimee said again, "wanna spend the night again tonight?"

"Wait, really?" I said, surprised again. I actually didn't give any thought about what I was gonna do tonight. It wasn't that late in the afternoon. "Well, I suppose I could."

"That's totally up to you, though," she continued. "You could probably make it to Ashton Town right before it gets dark if you leave right now. It's not that far."

"Nah, I doubt that," I replied. "It took a long time to get here from Gloride because of all the Trainers. They'll probably be swarmed on that route as well."

Aimee smiled. "Yeah, lots of people like you are traveling. It's kinda funny, what with Team Riot running amok, you might think they'd slow down…"

"I don't wanna rush," I said. "Ashton Town can wait for tomorrow. I haven't even finished looking around the city."

"Awesome, we'd love for you to stay over again."

"Me too," I said. "But first, I think I'll finish looking around the city. I only got around halfway before I told Archer about the Gym… he never calmed down after that."

Aimee giggled again. "Well, that's fine. But you'll always be welcome here. Right, Nic?"

"Whatever," Nic said, playing the quiet guy again.

"See?" Aimee said happily.

I laughed a bit. "Thanks guys. We'll be going in to the city, but we'll be back."

"Alrighty, then. See ya, Jack!"

And so I went back into Watercolor City. Not much was to be said about the rest of the city. To be honest, my Pokémon didn't seem very interested in the city's art. It didn't entirely move me either, but I appreciated it for what it is, and the effort put in by whoever made it. On the streets, there were plenty of street performers with acoustic guitars and some bands playing all kinds of assorted instruments, making some pleasant indie tunes.

As for specific buildings or areas in the city… well, there really wasn't much. Besides the PokéPainting place and the café and the art museum I walked through a minute ago, there wasn't much to be told about the city, but given the overall atmosphere and the people here, the city probably liked it like that. I suppose not all major cities have to be like Gloride, where there's always something going on. I actually like this quiet city. You think something ever happens in Sunrise Town? The only time something happens is when we make something happen for ourselves. But I've probably already written that, I'm sure.

After entirely walking around the city, we stopped at the Pokémon Center just to get healed up. I imagine that I could get some new stuff at the shop for getting another badge, but that can wait for tomorrow when I hit the road again. We went back to the day care, and immediately my Pokémon went right into play mode. Around 6, it was dinner for everyone, including me, Aimee, and Nic, and right after that, it was right back to play for everyone. I couldn't help jumping in myself; I do love a good game of hide and seek anyway. After a while, when the sky was entirely dark, and after some Trainers picked up their Pokémon with others dropping them off for the night, it was lights out for everyone. I slept in the guest room upstairs, just because I don't feel like sleeping outside unless I'm out on a route, but all the Pokémon had different plans. Nearly everyone slept outside, most of them stargazing. It WAS a nice night, I'll give them that. I think Archer felt that I might be lonely or something, sleeping alone like I was, so he came up and joined me at some point in the night where all I did was mess around with my Pokévice and update my journal. He certainly seems to have become attached to me rather quickly.

And soon after that, my eyes were shut.

-End of Entry-

_Longer than chapter 6 by two pages (and only around 200 words) :o. Riot Mod Seleste was made by my first reviewer, androidyumi99. Thanks, mate. The other TR mods are wonderful, each with an appropriate debut. When? That's a surprise, like Seleste's._

_Well, I wanted to upload this on Saturday, but I figured it could wait until yesterday (that's an odd thing to say) and procrastinated about rewiring the end so I put an OC in until Infamous froze. Piece of crap. Then, when it was too late, I realized that was Easter, and I couldn't upload it then. My bad.  
_

_Three announcements. One, I made some minor adjustments to the Route Trainer OC thing. For starters, it's now found at the end of chapter one, because I feel it would help expand my audience (not that I have a problem with you guys, I love you all, I just want to love more!). Secondly, there's no longer a limit to how many you give me, but you can only do one for each new chapter (if you give me an OC before chapter 10 comes out, you have to wait for at least C10 to give me another one. If you don't give me one for this chapter, you still can only submit one for C10). Third, I'm never going lower than 100% about making sure I put out a new chapter every week (give or take a couple days), but now that all the pre-written chapters are uploaded, progress MAY be a bit slower starting now (and ending when I get more free time (which won't be for a while (sadface (useless parentheses)))), since new lines must be drawn and edited, yak yak. Also, crossing my fingers as I type this (which is hard), the official map of Falloh may finally get scanned when C10 is ready._

_Okay, yeah, um… that's all. I'll do my best to not be late for Dark-Light's 10__th__ anniversary!_


End file.
